IC-NRLF 


THE  ROBERT   E.  COWAN  COLLECTION 

I'RKSKNTKI)    TO    THK 

UNIVERSITY  OF  'CALIFORNIA 

HV 

C.  P.  HUNTINGTON 

JUNE.   18Q7. 

=sion  No  btf  &&?& 


OCCIDENTAL 


SKETCHES. 


BY  MAJOR  BEN  C.  TRUMAN, 

AUTHOR  OF 

"CAMPAIGNING  IN  TENNESSEE,"  "THE  SOUTH  AFTER  THE  WAR," 
"SEMI-TROPICAL  CALIFORNIA,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


SAN    FRANCISCO  : 
SAN    FRANCISCO    NEWS    COMPANY,    PUBLISHERS. 

1881. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1881,  by 

BEN      C.     TRUMAN, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington 


Crocker  &•  Co. ,  Printers,  San  Francisco 


CHARLES  CROCKER, 


TOKEN    OF   ESTEEM. 


PREFACE. 


I  submit  a  preface,  more  to  conform  to  custom 
than  for  any  thing  else.  In  it,  however,  I  will 
take  occasion  to  state  that  the  names  of  persons 
and  places  and  situations  in  "Hill  Beechey's 
Dream,"  "An  Episode  of  Echo  Canon,"  "A  Mid 
night  Adventure  in  Nevada,"  "Three  Extinct 
Citizens,"  "The  Wickenburg  Massacre,"  and  "A 
Sensation  in  the  Orange  Groves,"  are  all  real  and 
true  in  each  particular  respect.  In  the  sketch 
entitled  "  Divorced  on  the  Desert,"  the  main  facts 
have  been  preserved,  with  the  real  names  of  the 
characters  changed  to  fictitious  ones,  for  reasons 
not  necessary  to  present.  "An  Hour  with  an 
Antediluvian"  is  an  enlargement  of  a  scene  that 
actually  did  occur.  The  other  sketches  are  pre 
sented  for  the  general  information  and  entertain 
ment  of  all  who  peruse  the  book. 

B.  C.  T. 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

SKETCH    I.  HILL   BEECHEY'S   DREAM,  11 

"  II.  DIVORCED   ON   THE   DESERT,  39 

'"  III.  AN   EPISODE   OF   ECHO   CANON,  53 

"  IV.  AN    HOUR   WITH   AN   ANTEDILUVIAN,    -                        -  66 

"  V.  A   MIDNIGHT   ADVENTURE   IN    NEVADA,     -            -  91 

"  VI.  A   SUMMER   IN   ALASKA, 103 

"  VII.  THREE   EXTINCT   CITIZENS,         -                        -           -  122 

"  VIII.  A   RAMBLE   WITH   FLORA, 131 

"  IX.  THE   WICKENBURG. MASSACRE,  147 

"  X.  A   MATCHLESS    ACHIEVEMENT,                    -            -            -  160 

"  XI.  A   SENSATION   IN   THE   ORANGE    GROVES,              -  181 

"  XII.  THE    RENAISSANCE   OF   MONTEREY,         -            -           -  204 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DREAM. 


IN  the  Spring  of  1863  a  California!!  pioneer  named 
Hill  Beechey  lived  at  a  place  called  Lewiston,  Idaho 
Territory,  where  he  kept  a  hotel  and  owned  a  stage 
line.  Lewiston  was  at  that  time  the  capital  of 
Idaho  ;  it  is  beautifully  situated  upon  the  junction 
of  Clearwater  and  Snake  Rivers,  upon  the  reserva 
tion  of  the  Nez  Perce  Indians,  a  little  more  than 
500  miles  from  Portland,  Oregon.  The  reservation 
is  surrounded  by  lofty  mountains,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  charming  and  picturesque  places  in  that  Ter 
ritory. 

Early  in  the  month  of  August,  1863,  one  morn 
ing,  while  at  his  breakfast,  Hill  Beechey  said  to  his 
wife : 

"  Magruder  leaves  us  to-day,  and  I  dreamed  about 
him  a  good  deal  last  night.  He  has  some  splendid 
men  with  him,  though ;  and  if  they  keep  together 
he  may  get  through  all  right.  What,  with  the  In 
dians  and  highwaymen,  a  man  carries  his  life  in 
his  hands  in  these  parts.  Really,  California,  at  its. 
worst,  was  never  half  so  bad  as  Idaho  is  to-day. 
By  the  way,  the  vigilantes  stretched  up  eleven  des 
peradoes  at  Bannock  City  last  month — but  there 
are  lots  of  them  left." 


12  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

"  I  dare  say,"  replied  Mrs.  Beechey,  "  and  there 
are  several  candidates  for  the  gallows  about  here,  if 
I  am  not  greatly  mistaken ;  I  can  see  three  men, 
now,"  she  added,  "  who  are  destined  for  no  good 
end." 

Mrs.  Beechey  glanced  out  of  the  window  toward 
a  pile  of  lumber,  just  across  the  street  from  the  tav 
ern,  upon  which  were  sitting  three  desperate  and 
indolent  roughs,  named  Howard,  Romaine,  and 
Lowry. 

"  Jim  Romaine,  I  must  say,  was  a  very  likely-ap 
pearing  young  man  until  he  got  in  with  Howard 
and  Lowry ;  they  do  say  that  Chris.  Lowry  and 
Doc.  Howard  have  both  served  terms  in  eastern 
penitentiaries ;  you  have  heard  that  before,  havn't 
you  ?  Why  !  what's  the  matter,  Hill  ? "  said  Mrs. 
Beechey,  "  you  don't  look  well." 

"  Oh,  nothing  in  particular,"  replied  the  landlord, 
"  except  that  I  was  thinking  about  Magruder.  He 
figured  in  all  my  dreams  last  night,  my  dear,  and 
it  troubles  me  more  than  a  little ;  I'll  tell  you  :  I 
dreamed  that  Magruder  was  killed,  and  that  How 
ard  and  Lowry  did  the  killing ;  I  saw  them  de 
spatch  him  with  an  axe;  a  teriffic  snow  storm 
prevailed  at  the  time ;  I  never  saw  anything  real 
that  seemed  more  life-like.  Magruder  was  sitting 
at  a  fire,  smoking ;  and,  as  plain  as  I  can  see  you, 
now,  I  saw  Chris.  Lowry  creep  up  behind  my  friend 
and  kill  him  with  an  axe." 

"  You  ought  to  hunt  up  Mr.  Magruder  and  tell 
him,"  said  the  wife  ;  "  I  would." 

"  Lord,  no ;  that  would  make  me  the  laughing 
stock  of  the  reservation.  Dreams  are  but  the 
pastimes  of  sleep,  at  any  rate,  and  with  me  they 
always  amount  to  nothing  ;  but,  at  the  same  time, 
I " 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DREAM.  13 

"  Halloo,  in  there  !  Beechey  ! "  ejaculated  Magru- 
der,  who  had  just  ridden  up  to  the  door  of  the 
tavern. 

"  Halloo,  yourself ! "  shouted  Mr.  Beechey,  appear 
ing  at  the  door  of  his  hotel,  and  signaling  the  trader 
to  dismount  and  enter.  Mr.  Magruder  dismounted  ; 
and,  after  having  directed  his  pack  train  forward, 
went  into  the  tavern. 

Lloyd  Magruder  was  a  successful  trader  of  Elk 
City,  Idaho,  and  was  at  this  particular  time  on  his 
way  to  the  new  mining  region  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Virginia  City,  with  about  $25,000  worth  of 
goods.  He  was  born  and  grew  up  to  manhood  in 
Montgomery  county,  Maryland,  in  which  section 
many  of  his  old  friends  and  relatives  at  present 
live.  After  half  an  hour's  chat  with  Beechey,  at 
the  expiration'  of  which  the  latter  presented  his 
friend  with  a  Henry  rifle,  Mr.  Magruder  examined 
his  pistols,  remounted  his  animal,  and  started  for 
Beaverhead,  400  miles  away,  taking  what  is  known 
as  the  Nez  Perce  trail,  which  lies  over  the  mountains, 
and  cuts  off  some  17  miles  in  the  first  hundred. 

The  next  day  Howard,  Romaine  and  Lowry  were 
joined  by  an  old  trapper  named  Bill  Page,  a  miner 
named  Bob  Zachary,  and  three  others.  Doc.  How 
ard,  who  was  one  of  the  most  intelligent  as  well  as 
one  of  the  best  educated  men  in  the  Territory,  and 
who  was  generally  looked  up  to  as  a  leader  in  almost 
all  matters  by  his  associates  and  some  others  in 
that  neighborhood,  proposed  that  the  whole  party 
start  for  the  Virginia  City  mines. 

"  I  think,"  said  Howard,  "  that  we  had  better 
make  the  Lewiston  people  believe  we  are  going 
west ;  and  then,  if  we  do  make  anything,  we  won't 
be  hounded  to  death  by  our  creditors." 

This  plan  of  action  was,  of  course,  agreed  to ;   and 


14  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

the  eight  men  started  a  little  before  dark  of  that 
day,  taking  the  Oregon  road,  and  disappearing  from 
Lewiston  in  an  opposite  direction  from  the  Nez 
Perce  trail. 

That  night  the  party  went  into  camp  on  the 
Oregon  road ;  and  Doc.  Howard,  after  a  good  supper 
had  been  devoured,  made  known  the  plan  of  move 
ment  agreed  upon  by  Lowry  and  himself,  as  fol 
lows : 

"  Now,  boys,  I'll  tell  you  what  we'll  do :  Bear  in 
mind,  and  don't  forget  it,  that  we  are  hard  up  ; 
whatever  we  are,  we  ain't  millionaires.  We  don't 
fool  assessors  much  ;  tax  collectors  don't  trouble 
our  kind  to  any  great  extent.  Plainly  and  honestly, 
we  are  good  men,  but  we  are  broke  ;  we  are  willing 
to  work,  but  we  cannot  get  work ;  we  certainly 
cannot  starve — God  never  intended  that  any  of  his 
creatures  should  starve.  To-morrow  we  will  cross 
over  on  to  the  Beaverhead  road,  and  the  next  day 
we  will  overtake  Lloyd  Magruder  and  join  him. 
We  are  all  well  mounted  and  well  armed,  and 
Magruder  will  do  the  correct  thing  if  we  go  through 
with  him  all  right.  He'll  give  us  all  that  we  can 
eat,  and  if  he  does  as  well  as  he  calculates  to,  he'll 
give  us  a  fresh  start.  Besides,  the  mines  in  Vir 
ginia  City  are  the  richest  in  the  Territory,  and  this 
is  the  best  chance  we  shall  have  to  go  there.  We 
are  sure  to  get  there,  you  know ;  and,  if  we  don't 
like  the  prospects,  why,  confound  it,  we  all  know 
the  road  back,  don't  we  ?  Magruder  is  well  fixed, 
my  good  fellows,  between  you  and  me,  and  I  think 
he  will  do  the  right  thing  by  us  when  we  get  to 
Virginia.  At  any  rate,  we  shall  secure  free  grub 
for  a  month  or  two  by  joining  his  party ;  and  that's 
better  than  hanging  half  starved  around  Lewiston, 
with  every  man  and  woman  watching  you  as  if  you 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DREAM.  15 

were  a  thief  or  an  escaped  convict.  Come  what 
may,  I  am  going  to  dust  out  of  this,  and  if  I  ever 
return  to  Lewiston,  I  hope  I  may  be  hanged." 

"  I'll  be  hanged  if  I  do,  either,"  said  Romaine ; 
"  Doc.  expresses  my  sentiments,  exactly." 

"And  I'll  be  hanged  if  I  ever  return,"  added 
Chris.  Lowry  ;  "  I'm  with  you,  Doc.  till  the  death- 
how's  that,  Jim  ? " 

"  I'll  never  leave  you,  Chris.,"  replied  Romaine  j 
"  and  Howard — why,  I'd  go  with  him  to  the  grave." 
"  Well,  Bill,  what  do  you  say  ? "  interrogated 
Howard,  addressing  himself  to  Page ;  "  you'll  take 
the  chances  of  any  trip  that  promises  regular  rations 
and  easy  work,  eh,  old  fellow  ? " 

"  That's  what's  the  matter  with  old  Page,"  re 
sponded  the  trapper. 

"  And  you,  Bob  ? "  pursued  Howard  ;  "  you  and 
your  friends  are  all  agreed,  of  course  ?  " 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  Zachary  ;  "  we  started  with  the 
crowd,  and  we're  going  to  stick  to  it  as  long's 
everything's  all  right.  I've  known  Lloyd  Magruder 
ever  since  he  has  been  in  Idaho  ;  he'll  treat  me  well, 
you  bet — and  all  of  us,  as  far  as  that's  concerned. 
Agreed  !  why,  of  coiirse,  we  are." 

The  third  day  out  the  party  overtook  Magruder, 
and  accompanied  him  as  far  as  Bannock  City, 
where  Bob  Zachary  and  his  three  friends  secured 
employment.  They  at  once  withdrew  ^  from  the 
party,  bade  Magruder  and  his  companions  good 
bye,  and  the  latter  proceeded  together  to  Virginia 
City,  at  which  place  they  arrived  in  about  a  week. 
As  soon  as  Magruder  pitched  his  tent,  a  large 
crowd  assembled  from  the  mines,  and  a  trade  com 
menced,  which  only  ceased  to  exist  on  the  sale  of 
the  last  article  of  goods.  This  occurred  in  Septem 
ber,  1863.  During  his  stay  in  Virginia  City,  How- 


16  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

arc!  and  Lowry  assisted  Mag-ruder  in  the  store,  Page 
attended  to  the  stock,  and  Romaine  managed  the 
culinary  department. 

Early  in  October,  after  having  realized  about 
thirty  thousand  dollars  in  return  for  his  goods,  and 
between  sixty  and  seventy  first-class  mules,  Ma 
gruder  signified  his  intention  of  departing  for 
Lewis  ton,  and  so  informed  Howard,  Remain  e,  Page 
and  Lowry. 

"  Now,  boys,"  said  Magruder,  one  night,  at  sup 
per,  "  what  are  you  going  to  do  ?  are  you  going  into 
the  mines,  or  do  you  want  to  return  to  Lewiston  ? 
If  you  say  so,"  he  resumed,  "  I'll  see  you  all  back, 
with  a  good  outfit,  a  new  suit  of  clothes,  and  a  clean 
hundred  in  each  of  your  pockets.  To  tell  you  the 
truth,  boys,  I  want  you  to  go  back  with  me  to  Lew 
iston  ;  I'm  going  to  take  a  drove  of  mules  along, 
and  I  want  some  good  fellows,  just  like  you  have 
proved  yourselves  to  be,  to  see  me  through.  The 
mountains  are  full  of  Indians  and  robbers,  you 
know,  and  a  gang  of  good,  brave  fellows,  well 
mounted  and  well  armed,  is  the  most  desirable  kind 
of  companionship.  Say  the  word,  and  we'll  be  off 
in  forty-eight  hours  to  a  minute.  What  do  you 
say,  Doc.  ?  I  consider  you  the  bell-wether  of  the 
floqk ." 

"  Well,  sir,  I  have  never  yet  left  a  friend  when  I 
believed  I  could  be  of  service  to  him ;  and,  in  the 
present  case,  I  must  say,  the  inducement  you  hold 
out  is  good.  For  my  own  part,  as  much  as  I  detest 
Lewiston,  I  should  like*  to  return,  under  the  cir 
cumstances;  and  I  guess  we'll  all  go,  far's  that's 
concerned.  However,  Lloyd,  we  will  talk  over  the 
matter  to-night  and  let  you  know  in  the  morning," 
said  Howard. 

"  All  right,"  rejoined  Magruder.     "  By  the  way — 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DREAM.  17 

and  I  almost  forgot  to  mention  it — if  you  all  go, 
we'll  make  a  pretty  strong  crowd ;  Charlie  Allen, 
whom  you  all  know,  and  who  has  been  up  here 
trading  since  spring,  and  Bill  Phillips,  an  old  friend 
of  mine,  are  going  to  join  us  ;  and  then  there  are 
two  good  boys,  brothers,  from  Booneville,  Missouri— 
I  can't  think  of  their  names — who  have  got  a  little 
dust,  and  who  want  to  go  along ;  I  rather  invited 
them,  in  fact ;  for  the  more  the  merrier,  you  know, 
especially  when  the  country  is  overrun  with  red 
skins  and  road  agents. 

After  supper,  that  night,  and  while  Page  was 
corraling  the  stock,  Howard,  Lowry  and  Eomaine 
loitered  out  of  camp,  and  canvassed  the  feasibility 
of  future  operations.  They  sat  down  together  near 
the  spring  ;  and  after  a  brief,  running  conversation, 
Howard  said,  determinedly : 

"  I  tell  you  what  it  is,  comrades,  this  meeting  is 
the  first  act  of  a  thrilling  drama ;  and  I  will  at 
once  assume  the  character  of  the  heavy  man — the 
leading  villain  of  the  play,  say.  Now,  the  first  and 
most  important  thing  to  be  considered,  is  Magru- 
der's  money ;  he's  got  at  least  $25,000,  and  that 
must  be  taken  from  him.  To  be  sure,  I'd  rather  not 
kill  him,  but  that  may  be  incidental  to  the  object 
to  be  attained.  The  next  thing  to  be  considered  is 
concert  of  action.  Now,  I  pledge  you  my  word,  I'll 
undertake  the  management  of  the  whole  affair,  if 
you'll  stand  by  me  and  assist  me  in  every  way  you 
can.  There  may  be  some  bloody  work  before  we 
get  through,  but  we'll  make  a  splendid  clean  up  in 
the  end,  and  make  new  starts  in  the  world,  all 
round — take  new  leases  of  respectability,  so  to 
speak." 

"  I'm  with  you,  Doc.,"  cried  Lowry,  "  right  from 
the  word  go.  I'd  rather  rob  than  kill,  I  think ;  but, 


18  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

at  the  same  time,  I'll  do  as  much  bloody  work  as 
anybody,  if  it  is  necessary  ;  and  so  will  Romaine — 
whom  I  have  tested  on  several  occasions;  while 
Jim  is  a  little  backward  about  putting  out  a  fel 
low's  light,  and  .would  prefer  not  to  blow  a  man's 
brains-  out,  himself,  he  is  behind  no  citizen  of 
Idaho  in  reaching  for  his  divy,  or  in  staking  out 
new  graveyards  on  unoccupied  quarter-sections. 
Why,  I  educated  Jim  Romaine — he  wouldn't  have 
made  a  first-class  horse  thief  if  he  hadn't  met  Chris. 
Lowry.  You  see,  Doc.,  he  served  a  regular  ap 
prenticeship  under  me  and  Charlie  Ames — but  let 
the  boy  speak  for  himself." 

"  Well,  Jim,"  said  Howard. 

"  I'm  in — be  sure  of  that." 

"  I  told  you  so,"  rejoined  Lowry. 

"  But  I  want  to  make  one  remark,"  added  Ro 
maine  ;  "  when  it  comes  down  to  the  actual  killing 
of  a  man  for  his  money,  I  don't  consider  myself  a 
complete  success.  I  confess  that  I  can't  knock  a 
man  in  the  head,  like  Chris.,  just  as  if  he  were  a 
steer ;  but  I'm  in  with  you,  whatever  you  do,  and 
I'll  perform  my  part  well,  so  long  as  it  is  not  strik 
ing  the  fatal  blow.  Don't  think  now,  Doc.,  that  I 
want  to  back  out  a  bit,  or  - 

"  Oh  !  that's  all  right,"  said  Lowry,  nervously ; 
"  I'm  betting  on  the  boy  I  educated,  and  that's  suffi 
cient." 

"  Then,"  resumed  Howard,  "  we  three  fully  un 
derstand  each  other ;  and  we'll  stick  to  each  other- 
until  death ! " 

"  I'm  even  agreed  to  that,"  replied  Lowry ;  "  but, 
Doc.,  I  very  much  prefer  that  you  would  not  touch 
upon  so  grave  a  topic.  It  would  shake  my  consti 
tution  a  little,  I  think,  if  I  should  discover  a  gang 
of  vigilantes  after  me  with  a  rope — which  reminds 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DREAM.  19 

me,  by  the  way,  of  my  old  friend,  Tom  Walker : 
They  had  him  up  in  Denver  for  stealing  a  mule, 
but  could'nt  quite  prove  it  on  him.  But  the  vigies 
thought  more  of  Tom's  room  than  they  did  of  his 
company;  so  they  put  the  jolly  culprit  on  the 
hurricane  deck  of  an  old  windlass  horse,  and  told 
him  he  might  have  fifteen  minutes  to  get  out  of 
town.  Tom  took  in  the  whole  situation  at  a  glance ; 
then,  borrowing  a  chew  of  tobacco  from  the  man 
who  held  the  hemp,  he  said :  '  Gentlemen,  I'm 
much  obliged  to  you  for  this  exhibition  of  Christian 
consideration ;  but,  if  this  aged  animile  don't  balk,  I 
only  want  five  ; '  and  away  he  went  as  if  a  tilt- 
hammer  had  given  him  a  kick — but  what  were  you 
going  to  remark,  Doc.  ?" 

•  "  I  was  going  on  to  say,  Chris.,  that  Page  had 
better  be  kept  in  the  dark,  at  least,  for  the  present. 
While  he  is  too  big  a  coward  to  blow  on  us,  he 
might  let  it  out  in  some  way,  and  then  the  whole 
thing  would  be  up." 

"  That's  precisely  what  I  was  going  to  suggest," 
said  Romaine. 

"  Far's  that's  concerned,"  added  Lowry,  "  it  may 
become  necessary  to  send  him  along  with  Magruder. 
I  hope  not,  however.  His  life  isn't  worth  a  pint  of 
cider,  to  be  sure ;  and  I'd  as  soon  di-own  him  as  I 
would  a  cat,  if  we  didn't  need  him.  You  see,  Doc., 
he  knows  every  trail  in  the  country  ;  and  if  a 
snow  storm  should  come  on,  we'd  never  get  out  in 
the  world  without  old  Page.  The  best  way  is  to 
let  him  know  nothing  of  our  affairs,  whatever,  un 
til  the  night  of  action,  and  then  we  can  deal  with 
him  according  to  circumstances.  I  don't  believe  he 
ever  killed  a  man  in  his  life  ;  but  I'll  bet  you  Bill 
Page  dies  with  his  boots  on,  nevertheless." 

It  was  further  agreed  that  they  should  all  ac- 


20  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

company  Magruder,  Allen,  Phillips  and  the  two 
Booneville  boys  as  far  as  Bannock  City,  at  which 
place  they  would  have  another  consultation.  It 
was  arranged  that  Lowry  and  Romaine  should 
affect  a  hesitancy  about  returning  to  Lewiston, 
which  opposition  they  knew  would  be  overcome  by 
Magruder.  And  so  it  was  ;  for,  on  being  informed 
by  Howard  that  they  had  made  up  their  minds  to 
go  into  the  diggings,  Magruder  sent  for  Lowry  and 
Romaine,  and  promised  to  give  them,  and  also 
Howard,  two  hundred  dollars  each — and,  finally,  as 
he  thought,  persuaded  them  to  accompany  him  to 
Lewiston. 

In  due  time  the  party  reached  Bannock  City,  and 
went  into  camp  with  the  agreement  that  they 
should  remain  there  three  days.  Just  as  they  ar 
rived  a  large  party  was  leaving  for  Lewiston,  to  a 
member  of  which  Magruder  entrusted  a  letter  to 
his  wife,  in  which  he  wrote  that  he  had  sold  out  his 
entire  stock  of  goods  with  perfect  success,  and 
would  leave  Bannock  City  with  a  strong  crowd  in 
twelve  days.  "  There,"  he  soliloquized,  "  my  wife 
will  tell  that  all  over  town  ;  and  if  there  are  any 
road  agents  watching  my  movements,  I'll  throw 
them  off'  their  guard  and  arrive  at  Lewiston  before 
they  start  out." 

A  few  hours  after  his  arrival  at  Bannock  City, 
Howard  met  Bob  Zachary  and  his  three  friends, 
who  had  remained  in  that  place  ever  since  their 
arrival;  as  soon  as  they  met,  Zachary,  who  knew 
that  there  must  be  some  questionable  scheme  on 
hand,  accosted  Howard  with— 

"  Well,  Doc.,  what's  up,  eh  ?  Magruder  well 
fixed  ?  all  hands  loaded  with  dust,  or  would  like  to 
be — or  mean  to  be  ?  say  !  can't  fool  one  of  the  old 
boys,  you  know,  Doc.  How  many  of  you  are 
there?". 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DREAM.  21 

"  Nine  in  all,"  replied  Howard. 

"  Nine  !  who  are  they  ?" 

"There's  Magruder,  old  Bill  Phillips,  Charlie 
Allen,  Chris,  and  Jim,  and  Page,  and  myself,  and 
there's  a  couple  of  Missouri  boys  along — I  don't 
know  much  about  them — they've  got  two  or  three 
thousand  dollars  in  dust,  apiece,  I  believe." 

"  How  much  did  Magruder  realize  up  there  ? " 

"  Oh,  he  did  mighty  well.  He's  got  about  $25,- 
000  in  dust  and  coin,  and  as  fine  a  band  of  mules 
as  you  ever  laid  your  eyes  on." 

"  How's  old  man  Phillips  fixed  ?" 

"  Well,  I  reckon  he's  got  three  or  four  thousand 
dollars." 

"  And  Charlie  Allen  ?  " 

"  Charlie's  bu'sted — hasn't  got  an  ounce  in  the 
world  ;  some  of  the  boys  overhauled  him  at  his  own 
camp,  a  few  months  ago,  and  completely  cleaned 
him  out." 

*  Show  ! " 

"  Sure." 

"  Who  were  the  party  ? " 

"  Charlie  Ames  and  his  boys ;  they've  been  doing 
a  smashing  business  all  through  here,  and  are  now 
at  Washoe." 

"  Well,  Doc.,  I  won't  beat  around  the  bush  any 
longer — what  are  you  going  to  do  with  the  party 
you've  got  in  tow  ? " 

"  To  be  brief,  Bob,  we  propose  to  relieve  Magru 
der  of  all  he's  got,  get  off'  at  the  river,  make  for 
Portland,  and  take  the  first  steamer  for  San  Fran 
cisco.  We  are  going  to  meet  to-morrow  night  to 
make  final  arrangements,  and  you  are  invited.  I'll 
tell  Romaine  and  Lowry  that  I've  met  you,  and  that 
you  are  in." 

"  I'll  be  on  hand  promptly." 


22  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

All  of  the  necessary  preparations  had  been  made 
on  the  night  of  the  13th  of  October  for  an  early 
start  for  Lewiston  the  following  morning.  And 
while  Magruder,  Allen,  Phillips  and  the  twro  Mis- 
sourians  were  asleep,  and  Page  was  off  with  his 
stock,  and  Howard  and  Romaine  were  on  guard,  the 
latter  were  joined  by  Bob  Zachary  and  Chris. 
Lowry.  The  fire  was  stirred  up,  as  it  was  a  bitter 
cold  night,  and  the  shivering  desperadoes  got  close 
to  each  other  and  discussed  their  plan  of  action. 

"  To  commence  with,"  said  Howard,  "  and  to  be 
brief,  and  to  the  point,  we've  got  to  kill  Magruder, 
Allen,  Phillips,  and  the  two  Booneville  boys ;  I  have 
been  scheming  in  my  own  mind,  unceasingly,  and, 
tragic  as  it  may  seem,  I  can  arrive  at  no  other 
plan." 

"  I  have  no  objection  to  that,  if  it  is  acceptable 
to  the  others,"  said  Lowry ;  "  I  have  no  more  scruples 
about  killing  a  man  than  I  would  have  in  slaughter 
ing  a  calf — that  is,  if,  in  carrying  out  a  plan,  killing 
is  necessary.  I  just  want  to  say  one  word,  right 
here  :  Lloyd  Magruder  will  never  get  to  Lewiston 
with  his  money ;  now,  we  may  as  well  have  it  as 
meaner  men  than  ourselves;  besides,  the  world 
must  support  us — don't  forget  that.  And  I  want 
to  say  one  word  more :  I'm  going  to  have  a  few 
ounces  of  that  dust  if  I  stretch  for  it ;  you  other 
boys  may  do  as  you  please." 

"  That's  the  way  to  talk,  Chris.;  you're  a  thor 
oughbred,"  cried  Howard ;  "  and  what  do  you  say, 
Jim  ?"  he  added,  addressing  Romaine. 

"  It's  a  mighty  bloody  job,  it  seems  to  me,"  he 
replied,  "  but  I'm  going  to  be  governed  by  you  and 
Chris." 

"  And  you,  Bob  ? "  interrogated  Howard. 

"  I  shall  not  join  you,"  responded  Zachary. 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DEEAM.  23 

"  But  you  won't—" 

"  Stand  in  the  way,  is  what  you  were  going  to 
say  ? " 

"  Yes,  you— 

"  Doc.  Howard,  there's  honor  among  thieves.  I 
shall  never  divulge  the  secrets  of  this  meeting." 

"  But,  why  won't  you  join  us  ? "  asked  Romaine, 
trembling  from  head  to  foot  at  the  bare  recital  of 
Howard's  murderous  plan. 

"  Yes  ;  why  won't  you  join  us  ? "  followed  Lowry ; 
"  or,  maybe,  you  can  offer  some  other  proposition  ? " 

"  That's  so ;  we  are  open  to  propositions,"  inter 
posed  Howard ;  "  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  am  in 
favor  of  the  best  plan  that  can  be  suggested ;  what 
ever  recognition  you  extend  me  as  leader,  let  me 
assure  you  that  I  am  neither  vain  nor  set  in  my 
notions." 

"  Oh,  you  disgust  me,"  said  Lowry ;  "  there's  only 
one  way  in  the  world  to  get  Magruder's  money,  and 
that  is  to  kill  him  and  all  the  others.  I  am  con 
vinced  that  Doc.'s  plan  is  the  surest  and  safest — 
besides,  dead  men  tell  no  tales." 

"  Chris.  Lowry,  did  it  ever  occur  to  you  what 
kind  of  an  angel  you  would  make?"  interrogated 
Zachary,  laughingly.  "I  should  just  like  to  see 
you  when  the  old  gentleman  with  the  pitchfork  gets 
after  you." 

"  Now,  do  you  know,  Bob,  it's  my  impression, 
candidly  expressed,  that  you  will  not  be  far  away 
on  that  melancholy  occasion ;  don't  you  give  your 
self  any  uneasiness  on  that  score,  my  boy." 

"  Well,  I  won't  be  put  into  the  wholesale  mur 
derer's  corner,  at  any  rate;  however,  we  won't 
quarrel.  I  do  not  approve  of  your  plan,  so  I  will 
go  to  my  quarters,  and  shut  my  eyes  at  all  you  do." 

Saying  which,  Zachary  disappeared.     And  how 


24  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

well  Romaine  would  have  liked  to  have  followed 
Zachary  was  told  by  his  longing  look  and  lukewarm 
heart ;  but  he  had  inextricably  linked  himself  with 
Howard  and  Lowry.  He  had  been  their  associate 
in  lesser  crimes,  and  it  was  too  late  now  to  with 
draw  from  their  companionship.  "  This  is  the  first 
and  last  time  I  will  stain  my  hands  with  a  good 
man's  blood,"  he  thought.  Indeed,  Magruder  had 
been  so  generous  and  so  true  to  Romaine  that  he 
would  have  gone  to  him  at  once  and  divulged  the 
whole  thing  had  he  not  feared  instant  death  in 
consequence.  Hardly  had  the  sounds  of  Zachary's 
footfalls  died  away  when  Howard  proceeded  to 
elaborate  his  plan  of  murder,  which  was  to  kill 
Magruder,  Allen,  Phillips,  and  the  two  Missourians, 
on  the  eighth  night  from  Bannock  City,  in  the  Bitter 
Root  Mountains,  190  miles  from  any  settlement. 
Regarding  Page,  Howard  said  he  would  take  care 
of  him  upon  the  night  of  the  murder,  up  to  which 
time  he  would  keep  the  old  trapper  in  entire  ignor 
ance  of  the  affair. 

On  the  eighth  day  from  Bannock  City,  along  in 
the  middle  of  the  afternoon,  Page  rode  up  to  How 
ard,  and  pointed  out  a  spot  in  the  distance,  saying : 

"  There's  one  of  the  best  camps  on  the  road ;  it's 
up  on  the  top  of  the  mountain,  nearly ;  but  there  is 
any  quantity  of  wood,  and  the  water  is  better  than 
it  is  in  the  canon." 

"  It  is  just  the  place  of  all  others  that  I  want  to 
stop  at  to-night,"  replied  Howard,  dramatically; 
"  and  when  you  go  into  camp  I  want  you  to  pro 
ceed  with  your  train  to  a  distance  of  at  least  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  spring.  Bill  Page," 
he  said,  in  a  cold,  low  tone,  which  nearly  froze 
the  thin  blood  of  the  listener,  "  we  are  going  to  kill 
Magruder  and  the  other  four  men  to-night." 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DREAM.  25 

"And—" 

'  Be  quiet,  you  coward!" 

'But—" 

'  Hold  your  tongue !" 

'Yes—" 

'  If  you  dare  to  utter  another  word  until  I  give 
you  permission,  you  miserable  reptile,  I'll  brain  you 
on  the  spot.  Now,  listen :  you  are  to  stay  with  the 
stock ;  and  you  are  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
killing  of  any  one ;  neither  are  you  to  be  harmed 
yourself ;  you  may  rest  contentedly  upon  that  score  ; 
for,  really,  old  man,  we  could  not  get  along  without 
you ;  so,  you  see,  you  are  safe  from  the  force  of  cir 
cumstances." 

"  But  when— 

"  Shut  up !  When  I  call  you,  all  you  will  have 
to  do  is  to  take  your  share  of  the  dust  and  help  us 
throw  the  dead  men  down  the  mountain." 

Page  stood  like  one  petrified,  and  was  as  silent  as 
the  grave. 

"  What  do  you  say  ?"  continued  Howard,  his  cold 
gray  eye  piercing  the  shriveled  face  of  the  poor 
trapper  with  stiletto-like  keeness  and  cruelty. 

"  I  have  nothing  to  say,"  he  gasped,  in  powerless 
amazement. 

"  That's  all  I  ask  of  you— say  nothing  and  do 
nothing." 

Bill  Page  had  lived  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
for  twenty  years,  and  had  never  before  participated 
in  a  robbery,  even.  The  bare  thought  of  the  pro 
posed  murder  terrified  him ;  he  would  have  gone  to 
Magruder  and  informed  him  of  the  dreadful  plot 
against  his  life,  but  there  were  many  obstacles  in  the 
way.  In  the  first  place,  Magruder  would  not  be 
lieve  him,  he  thought,  especially  as  Howard  had 
made  himself  such  a  favorite  with  all ;  in  the  next 


26  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

place,  he  knew  nothing  of  the  plot,  and  could  ex 
tend  no  information  of  an  intelligible  character; 
besides,  Howard  had  dismissed  him  by  telling  him 
not  to  be  seen  again  that  day  except  at  supper. 

Camp  was  made  a  little  before  dark,  a  stiff  snow 
storm  having  set  in  thirty  or  forty  minutes 
previously.  At  9  o'clock  all  had  retired  except 
Magruder  and  Lowry,  who  were  on  guard  from  6 
to  12  o'clock,  and  were  sitting  at  a  fire  some  two 
hundred  feet  up  the  mountain  from  the  main  camp, 
which  was  pitched  within  a  few  hundred  feet  of 
the  backbone  or  ridge  of  one  of  the  Bitter  Root 
Mountains,  and  under  cover  of  a  patch  of  red-tree 
and  juniper.  The  two  Missouri  boys  were  sleeping 
together,  about  sixty  yards  from  the  main  camp ; 
Page  was  with  his  stock ;  Romaine  occupied 
blankets  with  Phillips ;  Howard  was  ten  yards  in 
the  rear,  and  Allen  slept  in  a  tent  a  few  yards  in 
front. 

It  was  agreed  that  the  murder  should  take  place 
at  10  o'clock.  At  that  hour  Lowry  took  up  the  axe 
and  went  into  the  bushes  for  some  wood.  Here  he 
met  Howard  by  agreement,  who  had  ventured  as 
near  as  possible  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  Lowry 
in  case  of  failure.  At  the  fatal  moment  Magruder 
was  sitting  at  the  fire,  smoking  his  pipe,  and  holding 
a  double-barreled  shot-gun  in  his  hands,  the  caps 
on  which  had  been  previously  removed  by  Howard. 
Page  was  sitting  up  in  his  corral,  almost  stark  mad, 
watching  every  movement.  Presently  Lowry  ar 
rived  with  an  armful  of  wood,  and  Magruder 
commenced  to  stir  the  fire.  While  in  a  stooping 
posture  his  hat  fell  off,  and  quick  as  a  flash  Lowry 
struch  the  fatal  blow.  Page  had  got  up,  in  his  ex 
citement,  and  was  a  witness  of  the  whole  scene. 
Howard  darted  from  his  place  of  concealment  like 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DREAM.  27 

a  doe;  and,  taking  the  axe  from  Lowry,  gave  the 
already  dead  Magruder  an  additional  blow.  Then 
the  two  murderers  proceeded  rapidly  to  where  the 
Missourians  were  sleeping,  and  despatched  them 
with  a  blow  each,  with  the  axe,  which  crushed  in 
their  skulls.  At  the  same  time  Romaine  chopped 
open  the  head  of  his  bedfellow,  Phillips,  with  a 
small  hatchet,  killing  him  instantly.  One  of  the 
Booneville  boys,  at  this  juncture,  gave  a  loud 
groan,  which  awoke  Allen,  but  before  the  latter 
could  reach  his  revolver  Howard  seized  a  shot-gun 
and,  taking  quick  but  deliberate  aim  at  him,  blew 
his  brains  out. 

Page  gazed  at  the  tragedy  from  beginning  to 
end,  and  dropped  down  against  his  saddle,  almost 
insane  with  terror  and  excitement.  In  a  moment 
or  two  Howard  came  down  the  trail,  and  shouted  : 

"  Come  on,  Page,  come  on — hurry  up,  and  help 
us!" 

Page  immediately  recovered  himself,  and  at  once 
proceeded  to  the  scene  of  the  assassination.  His 
companions  had  already  commenced  to  remove  all 
evidences  of  the  murder ;  and  his  very  bones  were 
made  to  chatter  and  his  flesh  to  crawl,  as  Lowry 
turned  to  him  and  said : 

"It's  a  grand  success,  Bill — we  never  made  a 
miss  hit ! " 

The  balance  of  the  night  was  consumed  in  the  at 
tempt  of  the  murderers  to  cover  up  their  awful 
crime.  Page  and  Lowry  took  charge  of  the  body 
of  Magruder,  which  they  tied  up  in  his  blankets. 
Then  they  took  it  up  to  the  very  top  of  the  ridge, 
and  threw  it  over  a  precipice  of  seven  or  eight 
hundred  feet.  The  bodies  of  the  two  brothers  were 
wrapped  up  in  their  blankets,  and  also  taken  up  to 
the  top  of  the  ridge  and  thrown  down  the  other  side  ; 


28  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

and  Allen  and  Phillips  were  tied  up  in  the  tent  of 
the  former  and  disposed  of  in  the  same  way.  All 
of  the  animals  except  eight  horses,  including  the 
sixty  mules,  were  taken  into  a  canon  off  the  road 
and  killed.  A  large  fire  was  made,  and  everything 
was  burned,  including  the  entire  camp  equipage, 
saddles,  strapping,  blankets,  guns  and  pistols.  After 
everything  had  been  burned,  all  of  the  scraps  of 
iron  from  the  saddles  and  harness,  such  as  straps, 
rings,  bits,  etc.,  and  all  of  the  gun  and  pistol  locks 
and  barrels,  were  carefully  picked  up,  placed  in  a 
bag,  and  thrown  over  the  precipitous  side  of  the 
mountain.  Morning  came,  and  not  a  vestige  of  the 
murder  was  to  be  seen.  This  would  have  been  the 
case  at  any  rate,  as  there  were  two  feet  of  snow  on 
the  ground. 

After  breakfast  the  murderers  made  an  equal 
division  of  all  the  dust  and  money  found,  giving 
Page  a  quarter,  and  at  once  resumed  their  journey. 
It  was  agreed  that  they  should  proceed  with  as 
much  haste  as  possible  to  Elk  City,  and  when  within 
forty  miles  of  Lewiston  to  cross  the  river  and  go 
to  Puget  Sound.  The  river  at  all  points,  however, 
and  especially  at  the  proposed  place  of  crossing, 
had  been  swollen  to  a  turbulent  height  on  account 
of  late  rains  and  snows  in  the  mountains,  and  every 
attempt  to  find  a  safe  ford  proved  fruitless.  When 
within  thirty  miles  of  Lewiston,  with  only  one 
day's  rations  left,  and  the  river  still  rising,  a  meet 
ing  was  held,  in  which  it  was  concluded  to  proceed 
to  that  town  the  next  night,  steal  a  boat,  and  go 
down  the  river; 

The  next  night,  about  10  o'clock,  the  four  men 
rode  to  the  outskirts  of  Lewiston,  and  Lowry  and 
Eomaine  went  in  search  of  a  skiff,  while  Howard 
and  Page  remained  with  the  horses.  Hardly  had 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DREAM.  29 

they  arrived  when  the  wind  commenced  to  blow  a 
perfect  tornado ;  the  river  became  fearfully  rough 
and  stormy,  and  all  attempts  at  navigation  had  to 
be  abandoned.  After  the  return  of  Romaine  and 
Lowry,  the  party  at  once  resolved  to  go  into  town, 
put  up  their  animals,  leave  all  their  traps  in  charge 
of  an  acquaintance,  and  take  the  stage  for  Walla 
Walla,  which  left  that  night  at  12  o'clock,  Lowry 
being  selected  to  purchase  the  tickets,  and  re 
quested  to  disguise  himself  as  much  as  possible. 
As  the  night  wore  on  the  storm  increased  in  its 
violent  fury,  the  rain  fell  in  torrents,  and  rude 
blasts  of  wind  howled  bitterly  through  the  adjacent 
cottonwoods. 

It  was  half-past  11,  and  Hill  Beechey  had  not  yet 
retired.  It  had  been  his  custom  to  retire  at  9 
o'clock  for  years,  this  night  having  been  the  only 
exception  since  his  residence  at  Lewiston.  His 
clerk  was  preparing  the  way-bill,  when  three  loud 
knocks  fell  melo-dramatically  upon  the  front  door. 

"  Come  in  at  the  end  door ! "  shouted  Beechey, 
fairly  arousing  Judge  Berry,  who  was  sleeping 
soundly  in  a  chair  in  front  of  the  hearth.  A  tall, 
well-built  man  obeyed  the  summons,  and  went 
directly  to  the  clerk's  desk. 

"  When  does  the  stage  go  to  Walla  Walla  ? "  he 
inquired,  in  a  low  tone. 

Mr.  Hardin,  the  clerk,  replied,  "  In  half  an  hour." 

"  Give  me  four  tickets  L"  demanded  the  stranger, 
in  a  loud  tone  of  voice. 

"  What  names  ? "  inquired  Hardin,  as  he  opened 
the  way-bill. 

"  Jar-ohn  Smith ! "  replied  the  stranger,  with 
slight  hesitation ;  and  then,  quickly,  "  John  Smith." 

"The  other  gentlemen,  sir  ;  what  are  their  names  ? " 

"  Bill  Smith,  my  brother,"  he  said,  in  sharper  and 


30  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

rougher  tones  than  before ;  "  and  Harry  Jones  and 
his  brother  Tom — how  much  is  it  ? " 

"  Four  of  you  ? — sixty  dollars,  sir." 

The  stranger  flung  three  twenty-dollar  gold 
pieces  down  upon  the  counter,  and  said :  "  We'll 
get  in  at  the  Post-office."  And  Lowry  took  his  de 
parture  without  saying  another  word. 

"  I'll  bet  a  hundred  dollars  the  stage  will  be 
robbed  before  it  gets  ten  miles  from  town,"  re 
marked  the  clerk. 

"  If  you'll  lend  me  a  hundred  I'll  bet  the  same 
way,"  laughingly  responded  Judge  Berry.  "  But," 
he  continued,  addressing  himself  to  Beechey,  "  did 
you  ever  see  the  fellow  before  ?  He  was  so  com 
pletely  disguised,  with  his  hat  over  his  eyes,  and 
his  scarf  around  his  face,  that  I  could  not  distin 
guish  a  feature.  I  noticed  one  thing,  though,  that 
he  acted  like  somebody  who  knew  the  places-he  is 
no  stranger  in  Lewiston." 

Beechey  was  lost  in  thought.  The  absence  of  his 
friend  Magruder — and  his  dream — flashed  through 
his  mind.  Then  he  remembered  that  Mrs.  Magruder 
had  received  a  letter  the  day  before,  stating  that 
her  husband  would  not  leave  Bannock  City  for 
twelve  days.  "But,"  he  muttered,  through  his 
teeth  :  "  A  robbery  at  least — there  are  too  many 
members  of  the  Smith  and  Jones  families." 

"  There's  something  wrong,  sure,  Mr.  Beechey," 
said  the  clerk.  "  what  had  we  better  do  ?" 

Hill  Beechey  sprung  to  his  feet,  and,  addressing 
himself  to  Hardin,  exclaimed :  "  You  go  up  to  the 
Express  office,  and  tell  Tom  not  to  send  any  treas 
ure  to-night.  Let  that  man  in  the  next  room  sleep  ; 
he's  got  a  good  deal  of  dust,  and  it  will  be  safer  for 
him  to  lay  over.  The  Judge  and  I  will  go  up  to 
the  Post-office." 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DREAM.  31 

Beechey  and  Berry  arrived  just  in  time  to  see  the 
man  who  purchased  the  tickets  and  his  three  com 
panions  get  into  the  coach.  All  four  were  disguised 
alike,  each  having  a  scarf  around  his  face,  and  a 
hat  slouched  down  over  the  eyes.  But  the  quick 
vision  of  Beechey  detected  the  features  of  both 
Howard  and  Romaine,  and  he  whispered  to  Judge 
Berry,  as  the  stage  started : 

"  Lloyd  Magruder  has  been  murdered  ! " 

"  What  makes  you  think  so  ?  "  asked  the  Judge  ; 
"  did  you  recognize  any  of  them  ? " 

"  Two  of  them,  my  friend,  as  sure  as  there  is  a 
God  in  heaven — Doc.  Howard  and  Jim  Romaine  ! 
And  they've  done  away  with  Magruder  !  The  man 
who  bought  the  tickets  was  Chris.  Lowry!  Why, 
the  whole  thing  is  as  plain  as  day ;  my  God  !  Mark 
me,  Judge  Berry,  we'll  never  see  Lloyd  Magruder 
again — those  boys  have  murdered  him  ! " 

"  Is  it  possible  that  you  believe  it  ?  " 

"  Believe  it !  I  am  sure  of  it.  Didn't  you  notice 
that  they  all  had  heavy  canteens  and  money  belts  ? 
But  there  is  no  time  to  lose ;  I  will  furnish  stock, 
and  you  and  the  Sheriff  and  I  will  start  oft'  before 
daylight  and  intercept  them." 

"  Why,  Beechey,  you  are  crazy ! "  exclaimed  Judge 
Berry ;  "  what  would  you  do  ? " 

"  Arrest  them  on  suspicion  of  having  murdered 
my  friend  Magruder ! "  ejaculated  the  noble  Beechey, 
with  flashing  eyes. 

"  Why,  Hill,  the  whole  town  would  laugh  at  us. 
Beside,  there  is  no  cause  for  alarm  in  that  quarter. 
I  met  Mrs.  Magruder  last  evening,  and  she  told  me 
that  she  did  not  expect  her  husband  for  ten  or  twelve 
days  at  least.  Let  things  remain  for  the  present ; 
you  manifest  an  undue  haste  in  this  matter,  which 
is  not  commendable,  and  your  wife  and  friends  will 
tell  you  so." 


32  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

Mr.  Beechey  followed  the  counsel  of  his  friend, 
and  the  two  walked  back  to  the  tavern,  Mrs. 
Beechey  at  once  being  made  a  partner  with  him  in 
her  husband's  suspicions,  upon  his  recital  of  the 
scenes  just  described.  The  next  day  Lewiston  was 
alive  with  the  adventure  of  the  previous  night.  In 
the  course  of  the  evening  it  became  known  about 
town  that  Howard  and  Romaine  were  of  the  party, 
and  that  Beechy  had  remarked  that  they  had  mur 
dered  Lloyd  Magruder,  producing  much  feeling 
against  him  by  a  majority  of  the  residents. 

Several  days  elapsed,  and  a  party  of  ten  men  ar 
rived  from  Bannock  City.     A  great  crowd  gathered 
around  them  as  they  dismounted  in  front  of  the 
tavern.     Hill  Beechey  was  the  first  to  speak. 
"  Where  is  Magruder  ? "  he  inquired. 
"  Why,  hasn't  he  come   in  ? "  asked  one  of  the 
traders. 

"  No  !  "  cried  a  dozen  men,  at  once. 
"  Then  he  must  have  changed  his  mind  and  gone 
to  Salt  Lake.  He  left  Bannock  City  three  or  four 
days  before  we  did,  in  company  with  Charlie  Allen, 
Bill  Phillips,  Doc.  Howard,  Chris.  Lowry,  Jim  Ro 
maine,  and  Bill  Page ;  and  there  were  a  couple  of 
young  fellows,  who  had  saved  a  little  dust,  also, 
along — there  were  nine  of  them  in  all." 

Beechey  stood  as  one  petrified.  At  last  he  said, 
in  loud,  measured  accents,  addressing  himself  to  the 
whole  crowd : 

"  Gentlemen,  Lloyd  Magruder  has  been  mur 
dered,  and  I  know  the  murderers  ?  " 

This  remark  was  received  by  a  majority  of  the 
people  present  with  manifestations  of  disapproba 
tion,  as  half  of  the  idlers  who  had  assembled  at  the 
tavern  were  men  of  the  same  character  as  Howard 
and  his  companions  in  crime.  But  most  of  the  citi- 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DREAM.  33 

zens  of  Lewiston,  even,  had  expressed  an  opinion 
that  Beechey  had  not  only  been  rather  precipitate 
in  his  convictions,  but  indiscreet  in  giving  them 
frequent  utterance. 

"  Are  you  sure  these  men  started  from  Bannock 
City  on  the  day  you  say  ? "  asked  one  of  the  roughs 
of  the  new-comers. 

'•'  Why,  certainly  ;  we  all  saw  them  off." 
:<  Well,  how  is  it  that  Magruder  wrote  to  his  wife 
that  he  wouldn't  leave  for  twelve  days,  then  ?  That 
don't  hitch,  does  it  ? " 

'  That's  as  plain  as  the  nose  on  your  face,"  said 
another,  dismounting.  "  He  had  nearly  thirty 
thousand  dollars  in  his  possession,  and  he  wanted  to 
throw  the  road  agents  off  the  track  ;  he  left  Ban 
nock  City  the  third  day  after  writing  that  letter." 
During  this  colloquy,  Mr.  Beechey  had  returned 
in-doors.  The  first  man  he  met  was  Tom  Pike. 

"  Tom  ! "  he  shouted,  "  I'm  off  to-night  for  Port 
land,  and  I  want  you  to  go  with  me.     I'll  pay  all 
your  expenses,  and  give  you  five  hundred  dollars, 
beside.     We  are  agreed,  you  know,  as  to  the  fate  of 
our  friend  ;  now,  for  the  men  who  killed  him." 
"  But  how  about  requisitions  ? " 
"  I'll  have  the  requisitions  all  right.     I  attended 
to  that  the  day  after  Howard  and  his  party  left,  I 
was  so  sure  they  had  made  away  with  my  friend. 
What  do  you  say,  now  ?  " 
"  I  say  I  am  with  you." 

"  I'm  off  in  an  hour,  Tom — will  you  be  ready  ? " 
'  Yes,"  replied  Pike. 

In  less  than  an  hour  the  two  men  were  on  their 
way  to  Walla  Walla,  at  which  point  they  took  a 
fresh  team  for  Wallula.  Here  they  took  the  regu 
lar  boat  for  Portland,  and  arrived  in  that  city  dur 
ing  the  second  week  in  November.  Beechey  sent 


34  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

Pike  to  Victoria,  and  engaged  a  detective,  who 
quickly  rallied  the  information  that  the  four  men 
had  started  for  San  Francisco  the  day  before,  minus 
some  six  thousand  dollars  deposited  in  the  Portland 
faro  banks.  As  nine  days  must  elapse  before 
another  boat  left  Portland  for  San  Francisco,  Mr. 
Beechey  took  the  stage  and  arrived  at  Yreka,  at 
that  time .  the  most  northern  telegraph  station  in 
California,  in  three  days.  From  this  point  he  tele 
graphed  to  Captain  Lees,  the  Chief  of  Police  of  San 
Francisco,  to  arrest  the  four  men  whom  he  was 
pursuing,  sending  Lees  personal  descriptions  of 
three  of  them  ;  in  four  days  thereafter,  Mr.  Beechey 
arrived  in  San  Francisco,  and  proceeded  at  once  to 
the  office  of  the  Chief  of  Police,  and  announced 
himself  as  Hill  Beechey. 

"  Your  friends  are  in  jail,  heavily  jeweled;"  ex 
claimed  Chief  of  Police  Lees,  who  at  once  accom 
panied  Beechey  to  their  place  of  incarceration. 

The  prisoners,  as  might  have  been  expected,  were 
thunderstruck  when  Hill  appeared  at  the  cell,  in 
which  they  were  huddled  together,  in  irons.  He 
shook  hands  with  all  of  them,  during  which  Page 
scratched  his  palm. 

"  That's  a  point,"  he  thought,  "  and  I  will  tell 
them  at  once  what  I  had  them  arrested  for."  Then, 
addressing  the  prisoners,  he  said,  familiarly,  but 
seriously : 

"  Boys,  I  have  had  you  arrested  upon  a  charge  of 
murder — the  murder  of  Lloyd  Magruder  ! " 

Page  turned  ashen  pale  ;  and  seizing  Beechey's 
hand,  frantically,  he  again  scratched  its  palm.  Ro- 
maine  was  struck  dumb  with  amazement,  and 
trembled  like  a  leaf.  Lowry  laughed,  and  muttered 
a  string  of  oaths,  while  Howard  looked  Beechey 
right  straight  in  the  eye,  and  said  : 


HILL  BEECHEY'S  DKEAM.  35 

"  Hill,  you  have  put  your  foot  in  it,  this  time  ;  and 
mind  you,  my  friend,  when  I  get  out  of  this,  I'll 
make  you  suffer." 

"  Doc.  Howard,"  replied  Beechey,  in  a  distinct, 
unwavering  tone  of  voice,  "  you'll  never  get  out  of 
this  scrape  —  but  you  and  all  the  rest  of  you  shall 
have  a  fair  trial." 

The  murderers,  it  seems,  after  their  arrival  in 
San  Francisco,  took  $17,000  worth  of  dust  to  the 
Mint,  reserving  a  thousand  dollars'  worth  each,  for 
the  purchase  of  clothes,  and  for  purposes  of  gam 
bling,  etc.;  and,  having  been  arrested  on  the  third 
day  after  landing,  but  little  of  their  ill-gotten  money 
had  been  squandered. 

In  the  meantime,  the  people  of  Lewiston  had 
gone  almost  wild  with  excitement  ;  there  had  been 
no  signs  of  Magruder,  dead  or  alive  ;  and  parties 
had  been  and  were  continually  arriving  who  agreed 
in  their  statements  that  Magruder,  Allen,  Howard, 
Romaine  and  the  others  had  left  Bannock  City  to 
gether.  Beside,  letters  had  been  received  from 
Beechey,  from  Portland,  stating  that  the  four  men 
who  created  the  sensation  in  the  town  a  few  weeks 
before,  were  Howard,  Romaine,  Lowry  and  probably 
Bill  Page,  the  guide.  Letters  were  subsequently 
received  from  Mr.  Beechey,  from  San  Francisco, 
giving  a  detailed  account  of  all  the  circumstances 
of  the  arrest  —  how  he  nearly  lost  his  prisoners 
through  the  technicalities  of  the  law  —  how,  at  last, 
he  obtained  permission  of  the  authorities  to  take 
them  to  Lewiston,  although  he  at  the  time  had  no 
proof  against  them  regarding  the  crime  for  which 
he  had  caused  their  arrest.  He  again,  on  his  return 
trip,  wrote  to  Judge  Berry,  from  Portland,  and 
among  other  things,  said  that,  from  statements 
made  to  him  by  Page,  not  only  had  Magruder  been 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


36  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

murdered,  but  also  Charlie  Allen,  Bill  Phillips,  and 
at  least  two  others. 

On  the  7th  of  December  Beechey  arrived  at 
Lewiston  with  the  prisoners,  under  a  strong  guard 
furnished  by  General  Wright.  He  was  met  at  the 
river  by  more  than  a  thousand  of  the  best  people  of 
the  place,  with  four  ropes  and  other  implements  of 
execution,  who  demanded  the  immediate  surrender 
of  the  prisoners. 

"  I  shall  only  surrender  them  with  my  own  life!" 
declared  the  noble  and  courageous  Beechey.  "  I 
have  promised  Governor  Stanford,  of  California, 
Capt.  Lees,  the  Chief  of  Police  of  San  Francisc.o, 
and  the  friends  of  these  boys,  that  they  shall  have 
a  fair  and  impartial  trial."  These  words  were 
full  of  manhood,  and  produced  the  desired  effect. 

The  prisoners  were  kept  at  Beechey 's  tavern  be 
fore,  during,  and  after  their  trial,  four  of  the  citizens 
of  Lewiston  taking  turns  in  performing  guard-duty 
six  hours  out  of  each  twenty-four. 

As  the  day  set  for  the  trial  approached  the  most 
intense  excitement  prevailed  at  Lewiston  and  else 
where.  Page,  the  trapper,  had  confessed  the  cir 
cumstances  of  the  murder  in  detail,  and  had  been 
accepted  as  a  witness  against  his  associates.  The 
trial  was  conducted  before  Judge  Park,  and  lasted 
several  days,  during  which  Page  recited  the  tale  of 
the  murder  in  all  of  its  startling  and  revolting 
minuteness.  The  jury,  without  leaving  its  seat, 
rendered  a  verdict  of  guilty,  and  Howard,  Lowry 
and  Romaine  were  sentenced  to  be  hung  on  the  4th 
of  March,  1864,  which  sentence  was  legally  carried 
into  effect. 

While  upon  the  scaffold,  Howard  said  that  the 
real  murderer  or  murderers  of  Magruder  would 
some  day  turn  up,  and  that  his  (Howard's)  blood 


HILL  .BEECHEY'S  DREAM.  37 

must  rest  on  Beechey 's  head.  He  betrayed  much 
emotion  when  the  rope  was  put  around  his  neck, 
and  had  to  be  held  in  a  standing  position.  Romaine 
wept  bitterly,  and  confessed  the  crime  in  detail, 
except  that  he  changed  places  with  Page.  "  I  hope 
God  may  forgive  us  all,"  he  said,  and  added  :  "  I 
die  with  no  feeling  against  Beechey — had  I  hrtre 
been  in  his  place,  I  would  have  done  the  same." 
Lowry,  who  had  betrayed  no  symptoms  of  fear  or 
penitence,  in  response  to  the  question,  "  Have  you 
anything  to  say  ? "  replied  :  "  Boys,  the  Bible  says 
'  cursed  be  the  man  that  is  hung  from  the  branch 
of  a  tree  ; '  I've  managed-  to  dodge  that  point, 
haven't  I  ? "  And,  again,  when  all  was  ready,  he 
shouted :  "  Launch  your  boat,  now,  boys — it's 
nothing  but  an  old  scow,  at  any  rate."  The  trapper, 
Page,  who  turned  State's  evidence,  and  who  dug 
the  graves  for  his  associates,  was  shot  dead  in  a 
quarrel  some  seventeen  months  afterward,  and  was 
buried  by  their  side. 

This  tragedy  has  no  exact  parallel.  Hill  Beechey, 
through  whose  indomitable  courage  and  energy  the 
murderers  of  Lloyd  Magruder  and  his  four  com 
panions  were  brought  to  justice,  died  in  1874,.  at 
Elko,  Nevada,  on  the  line  of  the  Central  Pacific 
Railroad.  He  was  one  of  the  noblest-minded  and 
best-hearted  men  on  the  Pacific  Coast ;  and  he  was 
for  many  years  proprietor  of  stage  lines  in  California, 
Idaho  and  Nevada,  and  in  1 872  managed  the  Lick 
House  in  San  Francisco  for  its  owner.  In  a  short 
time  after  the  execution  of  the  murderers  of  Magru 
der  Mr.  Beechey  got  an  order  from  the  late  Chief 
Justice  Chase,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  upon 
the  Superintendent  of  the  San  Francisco  Mint  for  the 
$17,000  left  at  that  establishment  by  Howard  and 
his  companions,  which  he  received  and  turned  over 


38  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

to  Mrs.  Magruder,  who  for  a  long  time  afterward  was 
a  resident  of  Oakland.  Mr.  Beechey,  himself,  was 
subsequently  remunerated  by  the  Legislature  of 
Idaho  in  the  sum  of  $8,000 — money  spent  out  of 
his  own  pocket — for  his  services  in  bringing  to  jus 
tice  the  chief  actors  in  "  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  BITTER 
HOOT  MOUNTAIN." 


DIVORCED  ON  THE  DESERT. 


Andrew  Jackson  Hathaway,  in  1849,  was  a  well- 
to-do  young  farmer  of  Iowa,  with  a  wife  precisely 
such  as  a  thriving  young  farmer  should  possess;  a 
bright  boy  of  twelve  and  a  sweet-tempered  daughter 
of  between  ten  and  eleven  years  of  age  constituted 
the  two  domestic  idols  of  the  Hathaway  altar. 
Their  names  were,  respectively,  William  Henry  Har 
rison  Hathaway  and  Janet  Dalrymple  Hathaway. 
The  father  of  the  elder  Hathaway  had  served  as  a 
lieutenant  under  Jackson  at  New  Orleans,  and  be 
longed  to  a  prime  family  of  Davidson  County, 
Tennessee,  which  had  formerly  lived  in  Virginia, 
and  had  good  revolutionary  blood  in  its  veins.  An 
drew  Jackson  Hathaway's  father's  helpmeet  came 
from  a  representative  Rhode  Island  family,  and, 
according  to  the  archives  of  Providence  Plantations, 
a  family  renowned  for  its  deeds  of  valor  during  the 
"times  that  tried  men's  souls."  This  little  bit  of  pedi 
gree  has  nothing  much  to  do  with  the  sketch  that 
follows,  although  pedigree  sometimes  helps  a  man  as 
it  almost  always  does  a  horse.  And,  again,  it  is  as 
well  to  show  that  our  Hathaway  family  had  a  pedi 
gree  that  any  American  might  be  proud  of;  for  Mrs. 
Hathaway,  too,  came  from  good  revolutionary  stock, 
with  an  even  divide  of  Massachusetts  and  South 
Carolina  in  the  make-up.  Her  name  was  Vashti, 
she  having  been  christened  after  an  old  maiden 


40  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES, 

aunt  of  Fall  River,  Massachusetts.  Andrew  and 
Vashti  grew  up  on  neighboring  farms  in  Ohio,  where 
both  William  Henry  and  Janet  Dalrymple  were 
born.  It  may  not  be  uninteresting  right  here  to 
state  that  the  young  love  that  existed  between  An 
drew  and  Vashti  was  not  entirely  uninterrupted— 
on  account  of  the  youth  of  the  parties,  however; 
nothing  else  —  and,  whether  they  cared  or  not 
whether  the  "  Man  in  the  Moon  was  Looking,"  they 
each  kept  an  eye  upon  the  nocturnal  movements  of 
"  the  old  Stormer "  (as  Andrew  felicitously  nick 
named  his  sweetheart's  suspecting  sire),  as  night 
after  night  they  exchanged  sentiment,  and  some 
thing  else,  over  the  front  yard  gate. 

•  It  was  upon  one  of  these  delightful  occasions  that 
Andrew  and  Vashti  had  plighted  their  troth,  as  had 
Lucy  and  Lord  Rutherford  almost  two  centuries 
before,  by  breaking  a  silver  coin  between  them,  and 
had  mutually  invoked  malediction  on  whichever  of 
the  two  should  be  false  to  the  compact. 

The  reader  will  perceive  now  why  the  Hathaways 
named  their  daughter  Janet  Dalrymple.  And  it 
may  not  be  out  of  place — indeed,  it  isn't — to  state 
that,  of  all  Scott's  heroines,  the  "  Bride  of  Lammer- 
moor"  is  perhaps  the  most  widely  known.  Her 
sad  story,  you  know,  is,  in  the  main,  true.  The 
maiden's  name  was  not  Lucy,  as  Sir  Walter  has  it, 
but  Janet — Janet  Dalrymple — who  was  a  daughter 
of  Lord  Stair.  She  and  Lord  Rutherford  had 
plighted  their  troth,  had  broken  a  silver  coin  be 
tween  them,  and  had  invoked  malediction  on  which 
ever  of  the  two  should  be  false  to  the  compact.  The 
parents  of  Lady  Janet  vehemently  insisted  on  her 
marrying  Dunbar  of  Baldoon.  The  mother  acted 
in  the  most  cruel  manner  in  forcing  her  daughter 
to  this  match.  Janet,  broken-hearted  and  helpless, 


DIVORCED   ON  THE  DESERT.  41 

managed  to  perfect  an  interview  with  her  lover, 
and  sobbed  out  a  text  from  Numbers  xxx,  2-5,  as 
an  excuse  for  her  obedience  to  her  imperious  and 
unrelenting  parents'  commands.  The  lovers  parted 
in  sorrow — Rutherford  in  great  anger,  and  Janet 
overwhelmed  with  grief.  The  former  had  not  in 
him  the  spirit  of  Young  Lochinvar,  nor  the  latter 
the  wit  to  run  away  with  him.  The  poor  thing 
was,  in  fact,  badly  frightened.  She  was  carried  to 
church  to  be  wed  in  a  semi-crazed  and  more  than 
half  dead  state.  At  night  a  hurricane  of  shrieks 
came  from  her  bridal  chamber,  where  the  bride 
groom  was  found  on  the  floor,  profusely  bleeding 
from  a  stab;  and  the  bride  sat  near,  in  her  night 
clothes,  bidding  those  who  had  rushed  to  the  scene, 
"  Take  up  your  bonny  bridegroom  !"  Janet  died  in 
three  weeks,  insane.  Dunbar  of  Baldoon  recovered, 
but  never  opened  his  lips  on  the  causes  which  led 
to  the  tragedy.  Lord  Rutherford,  the  lover,  died 
childless  in  1685.  It  was  a  queer  fancy  of  the 
Hathaways;  this  naming  of  Janet.  Calling  the 
boy  after  Harrison  was  entirely  proper,  and  ex 
tremely  American.  It  is  as  well  to  state,  to  keep 
up  the  connection,  that  Andrew  and  Vashti  were 
married  at  the  home  of  the  latter  in  Ohio,  in  1835  ; 
Andrew's  father  and  mother  both  died  in  1840,  and 
Andrew  inherited  the  Hathaway  farm.  In  1846  he 
and  his  family  moved  to  Iowa,  and  here  Hathaway 
farmed  it  until  the  winter  of  1849-50. 

It  was  a  bitter  cold  day  in  December,  1849.  The 
snow  was  piled  six  feet  deep,  on  a  level,  and  the 
mercury  marked  24°  below  zero.  That  day  Deacon 
Hathaway — for  Andrew  had  joined  the  village 
church  and  had  been  made  a  pillar  thereof — had  two 
logging  chains  snapped  into  pieces  by  the  intense 
cold;  and  the  realization  of  some  other  mishaps 


42  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

made  him  red  hot,  although  the  atmosphere  was 
unmistakably  Siberian.  Deacon  as  he  was,  Hath 
away  expectorated  a  multiplicity  of  Flanders  oaths 
that  day,  and  his  arrival  home  was  marked  by  no 
distinguishing  exhibitions  of  serenity.  Indeed,  so 
exercised  was  Hathaway,  that,  while  in  the  act  of 
pulling  off  his  boots,  he  got  enraged  and  kicked  one 
of  them  clean  through  the  window.  This  little 
episode  elicited  a  broad  grin  from  William  Henry, 
and  the  remark  that  he  thought  that  Jackson — a 
white  mule,  not  the  head  of  the  family — had  kicked 
over  the  corn  crib;  Janet  glanced  sympathetically 
at  her  mother — who  had  burst  into  tears  simulta 
neously  with  the  flight  of  the  boot  aforesaid — and 
then  joined  that  good  woman  in  her  demonstration 
of  grief.  Andrew  took  in  the  domestic  tableau  at 
once ;  and,  dispatching  William  Henry  for  the  boot, 
patted  Vashti  upon  the  forehead,  and  said : 

"  I'm  not  mad  at  you,  my  dear,  so  don't  cry." 

"I  know  you're  not  mad  at  me,  Andrew,"  re 
sponded  Mrs.  Hathaway,  "  but  you  lose  control  of 
yourself  so  much,  lately,  that  you  make  things  very 
unpleasant  at  times.  You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of 
yourself — I  say  this  very  feelingly,  Andrew,  for  I 
love  you,  oh,  so  very,  very  much — but  here  are 
Billy  and  Janny  growing  up  so  fast ;  and,  my  dear, 
you  ought  to  at  least  set  them  no  bad  examples. 
Only  a  week  ago  you  came  home  in  another  just 
such  a  fit,  and  ripped  off  both  your  back  suspender 
buttons  in  your  anger." 

"  But,  Vashti ' 

"  Oh,  you  always  have  some  excuse.  I  know 
things  don't  go  always  as  you  would  like  to  have 
them ;  but  there's  no  use  in  your  getting  mad — and 
especially  before  the  children.  It  nearly  breaks 
Janny's  heart  to  see  you  in  a  passion,  and  Billy,  as 


DIVORCED  ON  THE  DESERT.         43 

you  must  have  noticed,  has  already  commenced  to 
make  fun  of  you.  Another  thing,  now  that  we  are 
on  the  subject,  let  me  tell  you,  Andrew,  that  you 
are  not  only  violent,  and  very  violent,  too,  in  your 
temper,  at  times,  but  you  are  very  obstinately  set 
in  your  ways.  You  never  consult  me,  either,  in 
any  of  your  movements,  and  when  you  make  up 
your  mind  to  do  a  thing,  nothing  except  disappoint 
ment  or  disaster  can  change  you.  Don't  you  think 
it  would  be  better,  first,  to  make  me  acquainted 
with  your  projects,  or  some  of  them,  and  let  me  put 
my  little  stock  of  wisdom  and  womanly  plans  to 
gether  with  your  hopes  and  undertakings?  Two 
heads,  you  know,  Andrew,  are  said  to  be  better  than 
one,  and  it  strikes  me  that  husband  and  wife  should 
be  full  partners ;  and  it  would  be  so  pleasant,  too. 
I  want  to  share  with  you,  as  you  ought  to  know,  in 
all  your  pleasures  and  griefs,  in  all  your  prosperities 
and  adversities.  I  want  to  be  a  part  of  you  in  all 
things,  and  at  all  times  and  places.  I  know  you 
love  me,  and  I  know  we  get  along  pretty  well,  gen 
erally.  *  And,  were  it  not  for  your  quick  temper 
and  obstinacy,  we  would  be  the  happiest  couple  in 
the  world.  Now,  I  say  this  from  the  most  loving 
standpoint,  Andrew,  and  I  say  it  for  your  own  good, 
and  for  the  happiness  and  future  prosperity  of  you, 
my  dear  husband,  myself,  and  our  dear,  loving 
children." 

During  this  speech  Mrs.  Hathaway  and  Janet 
had  prepared  the  evening  meal ;  William  had 
plugged  up  the  hole  in  the  window  with  some  cast- 
off  garment,  and  the  family  sat  down  to  supper. 

The  silence  which  followed  Mrs.  Hathaway's 
speech  was  broken  by  Janet,  who  inquired : 

"  Papa,  mamma  says  we  are  going  to  start  for 
California  in  the  spring.  Is  that  really  so  ? " 


44  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

"  That  is  really  so,"  responded  Mr.  Hathaway. 

"Yes,  dear  girl,  we  start  for  California  in  the 
spring,"  interrupted  Mrs.  Hathaway.  "  Your  father 
apprized  me  of  his  intention  a  few  days  ago,  and 
that  settles  it.  Neither  of  us  know  anything  about 
that  far-off  country,  although  the  St.  Louis  papers 
are  full  of  glowing  descriptions  of  the  beautiful 
land  of  flowers  and  gold.  Lots  of  Iowa  folks  are 
going  through  in  the  spring,  and  I  don't  mind 
breaking  up  and  going  west  once  more." 

"  They  tell  me  that  you  can  pick  up  gold  in  the 
rivers  and  on  the  roads  out  there  in  California," 
said  William.  "I  don't  believe  that,  but  I  do  believe 
it's  a  better  place  than  Iowa ;  it  is  too  cold  here ;  I 
don't  like  the  winters  here  at  all." 

"You  are  right,  William,"  remarked  Mr.  Hath 
away,  "  The  winters  in  California  are  as  mild  as 
they  are  in  Florida,  so  Fremont  says,  and  that  is 
one  reason  why  I  want  to  go  there. ^  It  is  an  old 
saying  that  a  rolling  stone  gathers  no  moss,  I  know, 
and  it  may  be  a  true  one ;  but  I  have  rolled  so  long, 
and  so  often,  that  I  am  going  to  try  it  once.  more. 
From  the  little  I  can  glean  from  the  newspapers, 
and  from  other  sources  of  information,  I  am  of  the 
opinion  that  it  is  just  the  country  for  us  to  go  to." 

Spring  came,  and  May  found  the  Hathaways, 
with  two  good  teams  and  wagons,  half  a  dozen 
steers,  two  or  three  cows,  two  saddle  horses,  and  a 
good  stock  of  provisions,  on  their  way  to  California. 

The  little  party  had  good  luck,  losing  none  of 
their  stock  except  the  cows,  and  meeting  neither 
hostile  Indians  nor  thieving  white  men. 

From  the  moment  the  party  crossed  the  Missouri 
river,  however,  Hathaway's  mode  of  action  was 
never  interfered  with  with  any  degree  of  success. 
He  consulted  neither  Mrs.  Hathaway  nor  any  other 


DIVORCED   ON  THE  DESERT.  45 

living  person.  He  made  and  broke  camps  when 
and  wherever  he  pleased  ;  watered  his  stock  when 
ever  he  saw  fit,  and  sought  advice  of  no  one  or  no 
thing  except  a  map  and  a  dial. 

Upon  leaving  Salt  Lake  Mrs.  Hathaway  hazarded 
a  suggestion  touching  a  choice  of  roads,  and  William 
Henry  rallied  to  the  support  of  his  mother ;  Janet, 
however,  stood  by  her  father,  and  the  mother  and 
son  yielded.  But  Mrs.  Hathaway  said : 

"  As  we  are  evenly  divided  in  our  opinion  as  to 
which  is  the  best  road,  Andrew,  I  will  yield,  as  I 
always  do ;  but  I  would  like  to  ask  you  one  ques 
tion  :  Suppose  /  had  not  yielded  my  preference,  and 
suppose  Billy  and  Janny  had  preferred  my  road, 
what  would  you  have  done  under  the  circum 
stances  ? " 

"  What  would  /  have  done  ?  Why,  iny  good 
woman,  I  would  have  gone  right  on  just  as  I  am — 
just  as  if  no  one  were  here  but  myself.  I  am  at  the 
head  of  this  expedition,  and  it  must  go  my  way.  I 
don't  propose  to  take  advice  from  an  old  woman 
and  a  couple  of  children  in  this  section  of  the  wild 
erness — not  as  the  roads  are.  I  don't  consider  your 
judgment  good  in  the  premises,  however  much  you 
may  consult  authorities.  I  have  got  a  map  and  a 
general  description  of  the  country  through  which 
we  are  traveling,  and  I  am  going  to  stick  to  that 
compass  if  I  never  reach  California." 

"  Why,  Andrew  ! " 

"  No,  there's  no  why,  Andrew !  about  it.  It  is 
common  sense  decision  and  there  can't  be  any  ap 
peal.  I'll  say  this,  though :  whenever  in  your  wis 
dom,  you  deem  my  course  of  pilgrimage  uncertain 
or  unsatisfactory,  you  can  go  some  other  way 
or  take  the  back  track  altogether;  and  you  may 
take  the  whole  outfit  with  you,  except  the  poorest 


46  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

saddle  horse  you  can  pick  out.  Now,  I  want  you 
to  remember,  once  for  all,  Vashti,  that  I  am  infern 
ally  tired  of  your  fault-finding  and  suggestions.  I 
am  determined  to  have  my  own  way.  Whenever 
you  want  to  go  contrary  to  my  way,  let  us  separate." 
"  Why,  Andrew  Hathaway,  what  a  speech ! " 
ejaculated  the  wife.  "  Why,  the  children  themselves 
are  amazed  at  you."  And  all  sobbed  bitterly  except 
that  obstinate  man,  Andrew  Jackson  Hathaway. 

It  was  several  days  before  perfect  harmony  again 
prevailed  in  the  Hathaway  camp,  which,  however, 
when  it  did  set  in,  lasted  until  the  party  arrived  at 
a  point  on  the  Humboldt  desert,  where  the  Lassen 
trail  intersects  that  of  the  Carson. 

At  this  point  there  had  congregated  some  forty 
odd  persons,  all  of  whom  but  Hathaway  had  con 
cluded  to  take  the  Lassen  trail.  Mrs.  Hathaway 
was  aware  that  her  husband's  map  pointed  out  the 
Carson  road  as  the  one  to  be  followed.  She,  how 
ever,  preferred  the  Lassen  trail  for  the  reason  that 
a  good  crowd  was  going  that  way;  and,  further, 
because  both  William  and  Janet  had  besought  her  to 
prevail  upon  their  father  to  change  his  mind.  Thus 
fortified,  Mrs.  Hathaway  approached  her  husband, 
who  was  seated  upon  a  pile  of  blankets,  repairing  a 
bridle. 

It  was  a  lovely  morning  in  September,  and  all 
things  in  nature  seemed  to  smile.  The  imperial 
orb  rode  up  the  eastern  sky  and  flung  its  splendors 
upon  the  majestic  Sierra,  which  rose  like  battle 
ments  before  it.  There  was  inspiration  in  the  scene 
and  sublimity  in  the  solitude  of  that  vast  landscape 
untouched  by  hand  of  art. 

Mrs.  Hathaway  opened  the  conversation  by 
saying,  in  dulcet  tones  : 

"  Andrew,  I  was  just  thinking,  as  I  gazed  upon 


DIVORCED  ON  THE  DESERT.         47 

those  magnificent  elevations  before  us,  of  the  great 
ness  of  God.  I  have  been  in  the  most  perfect  state 
of  enchantment  for  an  hour,  not  only  in  surveying 
the  mountains  before  us  and  the  desert  behind  us, 
but  meditating  upon  the  conspicuous  creations  of 
our  Heavenly  Father.  I  never  felt  my  littleness  so 
much  before;  and,  in  the  contemplation  of  the 
mysteries  which  transcend  the  scope  of  earthly 
penetration,.  I  recall  an  anecdote  of  your  father's, 
the  effect  of  which  has  for  many  years  been  en 
graved  upon  the  tablets  of  my  heart — I  mean  the 
one  he  used  to  tell  of  old  John  Randolph  of  Vir 
ginia.  Randolph  was  walking,  one  evening,  accom 
panied  by  a  favorite  boy,  you  remember.  All  at 
once,  arrested  by  a  magnificent  sunset  in  that  in 
comparable  section  of  Virginia  known  as  the  Shen- 
andoah  Valley,  he  violently  seized  the  nigger  and 
said  :  '  Sam,  if  any  man  ever  tells  you  there  is  no 
God,  tell  him  that  John  Randolph  says  he  lies  /' 
The  same  sentiment  seems  to  take  possession  of  me 
as  I  gaze  upon  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains.  By 
the  by,  Andrew,  there  is  a  man  in  the  party  here 
who  has  made  the  trip  over  the  Sierra  several 
times.  He  calls  the  mountains  before  us  the  rim 
of  the  golden  valley,  but  says  there  is  no  time  to  be 
lost  in  getting  over  them,  as  the  snow  generally 
commences  to  descend  in  October,  and  sometimes 
falls  to  a  depth  of  twenty  odd  feet.  I  wish  you 
would  have  a  little  chat  with  him  after  you  have 
mended  that  bridle,  as  he  is  greatly  opposed  to  the 
Carson  road.  He  says  it  is  all  dust  and  alkali. 

"  He  does,  eh  ?  Well,  you  just  tell  Mr.  Knows- 
It-All.that  I  like  dust  and  alkali,  and  for  that  very 
reason,  if  for  no  other,  I  am  going  to  take  the  Gar- 
son  road.  I  half  thought  your  John  Randolph 
story  and  other  utterances  were  a  blind  to  get  at 


48  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

the  softer  part  of  me,  but  you  can't  do  it,"  replied 
Hathaway,  roughly. 

"But,"  said  Vashti,  feelingly,  "Billy  and  Janet 
both  want  to  go  by  the  Lassen  trail.  The  whole 
party,  in  fact,  start  off  in  that  direction  in  an  hour." 

"All  right,  let  them  start;  that  don't  interfere 
with  my  plans  in  the  least.  My  map  directs  me  to 
go  by  the  Carson  road,  and  I  am  going  that  way  if 
I  go  alone." 

"Then  you  may  go  alone,  Andrew  Hathaway  !" 
said  Vashti,  with  unmistakable  force  and  com 
posure. 

"What!  you  take  the  Lassen  trail  and  I  the 
Carson  ?" 

"  That  is  precisely  the  situation,  unless  you  con 
sent  to  yield  for  once  in  your  life,  Mr.  Hathaway," 
rejoined  Vashti. 

"And  William  and  Janet,  they—?" 

"Go  with  their  mother  by  the  Lassen  trail," 
added  Mrs.  Hathaway. 

"  But  you  will  become  the  laughing-stock  of  the 
whole  party." 

"  You  are  the  laughing-stock  of  the  whole  party, 
and  I  am  heartily  ashamed  of  you." 

"  But  this  is  a  serious  turn  affairs  have  taken,  and 
you  may  regret  it,"  said  Andrew. 

"  It  is  most  serious,  Mr.  Hathaway,  and  I  regret 
that  circumstances  force  me  to  act  as  I  do,"  replied 
his  wife. 

"  Then  do  as  I  want  you  to.  I  would  rather  stay 
right  here  all  winter  than  take  the  Lassen  trail." 

"And  I  would  remain  right  here  all  winter  and 
the  summer  following  before  I  would  go  one  foot 
by  the  Carson  road.  My  mind  is  made  up ;  I  pro 
pose  to  start  in  an  hour.  What  do  you  say  ?" 

"  I  say  you  go  your  way  and  I  will  go  mine." 


DIVORCED   ON  THE  DESERT.  49 

In  less  than  an  hour  Mrs.  Hathaway  and  her  two 
children  were  on  the  Lassen  road,  and  Andrew, 
astride  of  an  old  saddle  horse,  moved  off  sorrow 
fully  in  another  direction. 

.  Neither  party  looked  back  until  a  gap  of  many 
miles  had  been  opened,  each  expecting  that  the 
other  would  yield.  At  last,  Andrew  turned  his 
animal  about,  and,  to  his  utter  astonishment,  no 
living  object  met  his  gaze  in  that  vast  expanse. 
His  heart  sank  within  him;  great,  scalding  tears 
chased  each  other  down  his  rugged  cheeks  ;  despair 
took  possession  of  his  soul,  and  the  miserable  man 
cried  in  agonizing  accents  : 

"  Divorced  on  the  desert !  My  God!  what  have  I 
done?" 

Then  he  wheeled  about  and  pursued  his  course, 
the  very  incarnation  of  misery.  Once  he  turned 
and  rode  a  mile  or  two  on  a  canter  the  other  way. 
But  the  mountain  breezes  blew  the  dust  before  him, 
and  he  at  times  became  completely  enveloped  in 
clouds  of  alkali  sand  and  other  sedimentary  matter. 
With  nerves  and  reason  almost  shattered  he  went 
into  camp  weary  and  alone  the  first  night  of  the 
separation.  In  the  meantime,  Mrs.  Hathaway  and 
her  children  had  joined  the  party  that  had  started 
in  advance  of  them,  and  had  got  along  as  pleasantly 
as  could  have  been  expected  under  the  circum 
stances.  William  firmly  believed  that  his  father 
would  join  them  during  the  night,  and  when  morn 
ing  came  and  found  him  not,  he  burst  into  tears  and 
wept  bitterly.  The  mother  was  overwhelmed  with 
grief,  but  only  once  did  she  give  way  to  her  feel 
ings,  and  that  was  when  Janet,  at  breakfast,  said : 

"  I  dreamed  so  much  of  my  papa,  last  night. 
Oh,  my  poor,  dear  papa;  I  wonder  where  he  is  ?" 

These  words  went  like   daggers   to   the   wife's 


50  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

heart,  and  then  she  wished  to  God  that  she  had  taken 
the  Carson  trail.  She  even  went  so  far  as  to  con 
sult  with  her  son  upon  the  feasibility  of  returning; 
but  William  opposed  such  a  course  as  adding  folly 
to  folly. 

In  about  a  month  Mrs.  Hathaway  and  her  chil 
dren  arrived  at  Sacramento  in  good  health,  and 
without  the  loss  of  an  animal.  She  sold  her  entire 
outfit  for  several  hundred  dollars ;  which  amount, 
added  to  the  thousand  odd  that  she  had  safely 
tucked  away  in  the  lining  of  her  dress,  she  invested 
in  furniture,  etc.,  and  at  once  set  up  business  as  a 
hotel  keeper.  By  dint  of  industry  and  persever 
ance,  coupled  with  flush  times  in  and  about  Sacra 
mento,  Mrs.  Hathaway  not  only  made  lots  of  money, 
but  really  amassed  a  fortune.  Up  to  1852  both 
William  and  Janet  assisted  her  in  her  household 
duties.  Then  she  put  them  both  to  school,  where 
Janet  remained  until  she  graduated  with  honor.  In 
1857  William,  who  had  clerked  it  with  success  at 
Marysville,  went  to  San  Francisco  and  engaged  in 
the  hardware  business  for  himself,  and  married  a 
Boston  lady  the  following  year.  Janet,  in  1858, 
married  a  rich  farmer  of  Santa  Clara  County,  and 
has  lived  to  see  children  and  grandchildren  grow  up 
around  her.  Mrs.  Hathaway  still  lives,  residing 
with  her  daughter  at  San  Jose. 

Andrew  met  with  hard  luck  from  the  start.  The 
third  day  after  his  separation  his  horse  fell  down 
and  died,  and  he  footed  it  into  the  mines  of  North 
ern  California,  taking  out  his  first  dust  on  the 
Feather  River.  Once  he  accumulated  over  $5,000, 
and  built  a  saw  mill,  which  was  in  a  few  months 
after  destroyed  by  a  storm.  Then  he  again  got 
together  a  few  thousands  of  dollars,  and  commenced 
merchandising  in  Grass  Yalley,  but  a  fire  soon 


DIVORCED   ON  THE  DESERT.  51 

swept  all  of  his  property  away.  Then  he  went 
down  into  Southern  California,  and  from  there  he 
drifted  into  New  Mexico.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  late  hostilities  between  the  North  and  the 
South,  Hathaway  was  driving  a  stage  coach  in 
Texas.  He  at  once  joined  the  Confederate  army, 
and  was  severely  wounded  at  Pea  Ridge  while  com 
manding  a  company  in  a  regiment  under  Ben  Mc- 
Cullough.  He  was  again  wounded  at  Chickamauga 
under  Longstreet,  and  was  subsequently  taken  pris 
oner  in  Virginia,  and  sent  to  Columbus,  Ohio.  In 
1866,  although  fifty-one  years  of  age,  he  joined  the 
Fourteenth  United  States  Infantry  as  a  private,  and 
once  more  came  to  California.  For  twelve  long 
years  Hathaway  again  drifted  about  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  never  hearing  a  word  of  his  family — William 
having  retired  from  business  and  gone  to  Europe  a 
long  time  before — until  one  day  in  September,  1878, 
when  he  saw  some  mention  of  his  wife's  name  in  a 
San  Jose  paper. 

As  may  be  imagined,  he  made  no  delay  in  ascer 
taining  the  whereabouts  of  his  long-lost  beloved ; 
and,  on  the  19th  of  September,  1878,  just  twenty- 
eight  years  from  the  day  he  was  "  divorced  on  the 
desert,"  his  feeble  steps  carried  him  to  the  house 
that  contained  his  wife.  He  rung  the  bell,  and  old 
Mrs.  Hathaway  answered  the  summons  herself. 
Mutual  recognition  was  instantaneous;  and,  without 
explanations,  the  aged  couple  hugged  and  kissed  and 
blessed  each  other. 

Then  they  rehearsed  their  histories  from  the  time 
they  broke  camp  in  the  Humboldt  desert  twenty- 
eight  years  before.  Andrew  told  in  detail  the 
stories  of  his  unfortunate  career,  and  Mrs.  Hathaway 
briefly  recited  her  successes,  not  forgetting  to  inform 
her  husband  how  she  had  never  retired  at  night 


52  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

without  praying  God  to  return  him  to  her  once 
more. 

"And^now  that  we  are  reunited,"  said  Mrs.  Hath 
away,  with  an  affected  air  of  earnestness,  "  I  want 
to  ask  you  one  question." 

"What  is  it,  my  darling,  what  is  it?"  cried  the 
old  man,  in  accents  of  tenderness  and  love. 

"How  did  you  find  the  Carson  road?" 

"Miserable,  Vashti,  miserable —  all  sand  and 
alkali!" 

Then  they  embraced  each  other  again,  and  were 
again  united,  after  having  been,  twenty- eight  years 
before,  "  DIVORCED  ON  THE  DESERT." 


AN  EPISODE  OF  ECHO  CANON. 


On  the  8th  day  of  December,  1866,  after  a  trip  of 
four  days  from  Denver,  Colorado,  I  arrived  at  Fort 
Bridger,  Utah,  in  company  with  Mr.  William  G. 
Halsey,  private  secretary  of  Ben  Holladay.  Hav 
ing  roughed  it  in  a  stage-coach  for  eleven  days  and 
nights,  from  Fort  Riley  to  Bridger,  and  having  been 
nearly  scared  to  death  half  a  dozen  times  by  demon 
strative  Cheyennes,  who  were  on  the  war-path  along 
the  Smoky  Hill  Fork,  I  was  easily  induced  by  my 
comrades  of  "the  Atlanta  campaign" — Majors  Anson 
Mills  and  Andy  Burt  of  the  18th  U.  S.  Infantry,  and 
who  were  on  duty  at  Fort  Bridger  at  the  time — to 
tarry  a  while  at  that  charming  oasis  in  the  heart  of 
what  "Peter  Parley"  termed  the  "great  American 
desert."  Besides,  the  thermometer  showed  the  mer 
cury  30  deg.  below  zero;  and,  notwithstanding  the 
creature  comforts  in  the  shape  of  a  splendid  buffalo- 
robe  and  a  two-gallon  demijohn  of  whisky  given 
me  by  General  Ihrie  at  Denver,  I  reached  Bridger 
half  frozen,  and  stiff  as  Lot's  wife  after  her  won 
derful  saline  transformation.  I  was  bruised,  too,  on 
account  of  an  upset  near  Church  Butte,  twenty- 
three  miles  east  of  Bridger.  It  was  the  first  time 
in  my  life  that  I  had  been  capsized — in  a  stage 
coach.  Matt  Worth  was  the  driver,  and  a  worth 
less  driver  was  Matt.  Possibly  he  had  pulled  too 
often  at  my  demijohn,  although  I  would  have 


54  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

scorned  to  have  palmed  off  an  excuse  for  the 
shrinkage  of  its  superior  contents  upon  him  while 
two  such  "ardent  Bourbons"  as  Halsey  and  myself 
were  fellow-travelers. 

At  Church  Butte  station  a  stable-keeper,  named 
Janisse,  and  family,  joined  us,  having  received 
instructions  to  take  up  quarters  at  the  next  cabin, 
eleven  miles  west.  .  Mr.  Janisse's  family,  besides 
the  head  thereof,  consisted  of  his  wife,  two  children, 
a  male  cat,  a  cur  of  the  feminine  gender,  a  coffee- 
mill,  two  guns,  four  bags  of  grain,  and  a  can  of 
syrup.  Mr.  Janisse  was  extremely  solicitous  about 
his  can  of  syrup,  and  talked  molasses  continually. 
Mrs.  Janisse  was  full  of  an  old  cow  which  had 
departed  this  life  a  few  days  previous.  The  juve 
nile  Janisses  whiled  way  their  time  in  pugilistic 
encounters;  and  guns,  coffee-mills,  cats,  dogs,  grain- 
bags,  and  molasses  danced  cotillions  from  one  part 
of  the  stage  to  another.  Halsey  and  the  writer 
of  this  sketch  were  gracefully  doubled  up  like 
jackknives  on  the  front  seat,  and  on  the  whole 
delighted.  Just  as  Mrs.  Janisse  was  humming 
"Who  will  care  for  mother  now?"  and  while  her 
poorer  half  had  his  starboard  eye  on  his  vessel  of 
sorghum,  the  nigh  fore  wheel  went  into  a  deep  rut, 
and  over  went  the  vehicle.  Great  heavens,  what  a 
comical  sight!  Such  a  mixture  of  adults  and  chil 
dren,  cats  and  dogs,  molasses  and  guns,  coffee-mills 
and  gunny-bags,  etc.,  etc.,  I  had  never  witnessed 
before.  When  I  recovered  my  equilibrium,  the  first 
object  that  met  my  eyes  was  old  man  Janisse 
reaching  wildly  for  his  can  of  syrup,  the  contents 
of  which  were  running  into  his  hat.  Like  the 
humane  captain  who  mourned  the  loss  of  an  oar 
thrown  to  a  drowning  sailor,  Janisse  cried:  " There 
goes  my  molasses!"  absolutely  forgetting  Mrs.  Jan- 


fi  TT 


UNIVERSITY  )) 
AN   EPISODE  OF  ECHO  CANON.  55 


isse,  who  was  mashed  up  into  one  corner  like  the 
last  -rose  of  summer,  and  his  two  children,  who  were 
thrown  across  the  middle  seat  screaming  like  a 
couple  of  Rocky  Mountain  antelope  kids  in  distress. 
We  were  not  long  in  extricating  ourselves,  however, 
and  great  was  our  joy  in  discovering  that  no  biped 
had  been  seriously  hurt.  This  joy,  I  regret  to 
state,  subsequently  partook  of  a  tinge  of  grief,  occa 
sioned  by  the  discovery  of  the  demise  of  both  the 
canine  and  feline  pets  —  the  dog  having  been  crushed 
beneath  Mrs.  Janisse  and  another  bag,  and  the  cat 
having  met  his  sad  fate  by  having  his  head  jammed 
into  the  coffee-mill.  "What  a  cat-astrophe!"  ejacu 
lated  the  dismal-looking  Mrs.  Janisse.  "I  felt  sure 
that  syrup  would  get  tipped  over,  dog-gone  it!"  mur 
mured  the  demoralized  head  of  the  outfit.  "Are 
you  going  to  stay  in  there  all  day?"  shouted  Matt 
from  the  outside,  in  accents  unmistakably  un-Chris- 
tian.  "No!"  and  out  we  lumbered;  right  side  up 
went  the  coach,  and  on  we  went  to  Bridger. 

Fort  Bridger  is  about  five  hundred  miles  west  of 
Denver,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles 
east  from  Salt  Lake  City.  It  is  situated  in  a 
beautiful  valley  on  Black's  Fork,  a  tributary  of 
Green  River,  some  twelve  miles  from  the  station 
of  Carter  on  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad.  One 
mile  above  the  fort  Black's  Fork  divides  itself 
into  five  channels,  and,  after  passing  through  the 
valley,  again  unites  its  waters  one  mile  below  the 
post.  One  of  these  streams,  some  thirty  feet  in 
width,  runs  swiftly  over  a  pebbly  bed  through  the 
center  of  the  parade  ground,  supplying  the  garrison 
with  an  abundance  of  delicious  water  free  from  all 
impurities.  The  portion  of  the  valley  in  which  the 
fort  is  situated  is  about  three  miles  in  width,  and 
is  clothed  with  luxuriant  and  nutritious  grasses 


56  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

during  the  summer  season.  Fort  Bridger  was 
established  in  the  spring  of  1858,  by  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston  (killed  in  action  at  Shiloh,  Sunday,  April 
6,  1862,  while  in  command  of  the  Confederate 
army),  then  in  command  of  the  United  States 
troops  sent  to  Utah  by  President  Buchanan.  Dur 
ing  the  winter  of  1857  the  army  occupied  Camp 
Scott,  about  two  miles  above  the  fort.  The  follow 
ing  spring,  however,  a  party  of  officers  was  detailed 
to  select  a  suitable  site  for  a  post,  and  the  present 
one  was  chosen.  It  was  named  in  honor  of  James 
Bridger,  a  celebrated  mountaineer,  who  had  settled 
in  the  valley  and  established  a  trading-post  many 
years  before,  and  who  was  at  the  time  a  guide  to 
the  army.  The  object  of  establishing  Bridger  was 
to  form  a  base  of  supplies  in  anticipation  of  a  con 
flict  with  the  Mormons ;  and  the  place  was  regarded 
as  one  of  great  importance. 

At  the  time  of  my  arrival  at  Fort  Bridger  the 
garrison  was  composed  of  two  companies  of  the 
18th  U.  S.  Infantry,  a  regiment  that  participated  in 
seventeen  great  battles,  under  Buell,  Rosecrans, 
Grant,  Thomas,  and  Sherman,  and  lost  more  officers 
and  soldiers  in  killed  and  wounded  than  any  other 
regiment  in  the  service  during  our  late  civil  war. 
Its  casualties  at  the  battle  of  Stone  River,  alone, 
were  five  officers  and  sixty  men  killed,  eleven  offi 
cers  and  two  hundred  and  twenty  men  wounded, 
and  only  two  enlisted  men  missing.  Fort  Bridger 
has  been  commanded  by  some  of  the  ablest  of 
American  officers,  conspicuous  among  whom  were 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  Charles  F.  Smith,  Canby, 
and  Philip  St.  George  Cooke.  The  best  known 
person  ever  at  Bridger,  though,  was  Judge  Carter — 
poet,  scholar,  traveler  and  gentleman.  Every  man 
of  note  who  crossed  the  continent  previous  to  the 


AN  EPISODE  OF   ECHO  CANON.  57 

completion  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  has  been 
his  guest.  Horace  Greeley,  on  two  or  three  occa 
sions,  told  him  what  he  knew  about  farming ; 
Artemus  Ward  has  sat  for  hours  with  the  Judge 
and  cracked  his  inimitable  jokes ;  Warren  and 
Jerome  Leland  have  chatted  about  things  gastro 
nomic;  Fitzhugh  Ludlow  has  toasted  his  shins 
before  the  Judge's  hospitable  fire,  and  presented  his 
theory  upon  the  action  of  wind  and  water.  Colfax, 
Bross,  Richardson,  and  Bowles  have  spent  many  a 
pleasant  moment  at  the  Carter  mansion  in  the 
wilderness,  listening  either  to  the  stories  of  the 
Judge,  or  to  the  rendering  of  delicious  morceaux 
from  Verdi  and  Flotow  by  his  pretty  daughter  Ada. 
So,  also,  have  Burton,  the  great  English-  traveler 
and  writer,  and  that  "blarsted  Britisher,"  Hepworth 
Dixon,  and  many,  many  others.  Judge  Carter  has 
been  associated  with  the  United  States  army  in 
Florida,  Texas,  and  the  Territories,  as  sutler  or  post- 
trader  for  nearly  fifty  years,  and  he  is  a  perfect 
encyclopaedia  concerning  it.  He  has  lived  at  Bridger 
twenty  odd  years.  He  owns  large  tracts  of  lands, 
horses,  cattle,  stores,  saw-mills,  etc.  For  several 
years  previous  to  the  completion  of  the  Union  Paci 
fic  Railroad  he  sent  his  own  trains  to  "  the  States," 
annually,  and  once  paid  $175,000  cash  in  St.  Louis 
for  a  stock  of  goods. 

The  next  day  after  my  arrival  at  the  reservation, 
Carter,  who  was  both  Federal  Judge  and  Post 
master,  commenced  a  term  of  court,  and  the  first 
prisoner  brought  before  him  was  a  highwayman  and 
horse-thief  named  Richard  Gardner,  alias  "  Obelisk 
Dick,"  so-called  on  account  of  his  hiding-place  near 
what  are  known  as  the  "  Obelisks,"  at  the  mouth  of 
Echo  Canon.  Gardner  was  as  fine  a  looking  ruffian 
as  I  ever  laid  eyes  on.  He  stood  six  feet  two  inches 


58  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

in  his  stocking  feet,  and  was  large  in  proportion, 
without  a  pound  of  superfluous  flesh.  He  had 
handsome  short  curly  black  hair,  high  intellectual 
forehead,  a  perfect  nose  and  mouth,  moustache  and 
imperial,  small  ears,  and  large  dark  eyes  that  flashed 
like  diamonds.  He  had  participated  in  a  dozen  or 
more  stage  robberies,  and  had  stolen  and  sold  nearly 
a  hundred  valuable  horses  and  mules  during  a 
career  of  thirteen  years.  He  never,  in  all  that  time, 
so  he  declared,  had  pointed  a  loaded  weapon  at  a 
person.  He  professed  to  be  a  Mormon,  and  had 
one  white  and  two  Indian  wives,  living  in  separate 
cabins  near  the  Obelisks.  He  had  a  son  nineteen 
years  of  age,  who  was  the  terror  of  all  three  of  his 
father's  wives,  and  who  boasted  that  he  whipped 
each  of  them  once  a  week  in  order  to  preserve  peace 
and  humility  in  his  father's  triangular  household. 
Jonas  was  the  name  of  this  remarkable  disciple  of 
Satan,  which  may  possibly  account  for  his  whaling 
propensity.  He  was  one  of  the  rioters  killed  in  the 
fight  at  Bear  City  in  1868. 

The  particular  accusation  against  Gardner  at 
this  time  was  for  stealing  a  saddle  horse  from  the 
Cummings  brothers,  two  farmers  and  traders  resid 
ing  in  Bear  Kiver  Valley.  The  Cummings  brothers 
appeared  as  witnesses  against  Gardner,  who  testified 
that  they  "  laid  for  Obelisk  Dick  and  nabbed  him 
with  their  animal  in  his  possession."  This  simple 
testimony  closed  for  the  prosecution,  and  the  ac 
complished  horse-thief  was  asked,  as  he  had  plead 
"  not  guilty,"  what  he  had  to  say  in  defense. 

•  "  Have  you  counsel  to  conduct  your  case,  Dick  ? " 
inquired  Judge  Carter. 

"No,  sir,"  responded  Gardner.  "I  concluded 
that,  as  I  was  innocent,  it  was  no  use  throwing 
away  money  on  a  lawyer." 


AN  EPISODE   OF   ECHO  CANON.  59 

"  Have  you  any  witnesses  ? " 

"No;  my  son  Jonas  has  disappointed  me.     He 

should  have  arrived  in  the  stage  this  morning.     If 

that  truthful  young  man  could  have  left  the  bedside 

of  his  mother,  he  would  have  come  to  my  relief 

this  morning.     He,  sir,  could  swear " 

"  To  anything  ! "  interposed  Hamilton  Cummings, 
the  elder  of  the  two  brothers. 

" — that  I  was  at  home  the  very  night  these  Cum- 
mingses  accuse  me  of  stealing  their  horse,"  concluded 
Gardner.  "  You  see,  Judge,  these  Cummingses  don't 

like  me  a  bit " 

"  You  bet  we  don't ! "  said  Amasa,  the  younger  of 
the  two. 

"  Order  in  Court,  gentlemen,"  said  Judge  Carter, 
pleasantly,  but  firmly. 

"  That's  right,  Judge ;  give  me  a  fair  show.  The 
Cummingses  have  had  their  say,  and  now  it  is  my 
turn.  I  didn't  interfere  with  them  when  they  were 
getting  in  their  work  against  me.  Now,  I  want  to 
tell  you  why  the  Cummingses  are  so  down  on  me ; 
I  do  a  little  trading  now  and  then  with  the  Snakes, 
you  see,  and  that  riles  them.  So  they  got  together 
one  evening,  happening  to  see  me  coming  toward 
them,  and  they  said,  '  Here  comes  Obelisk  Dick ; 
let's  put  up  a  job  on  him.  He's  got  a  couple  of 
Snake  women  living  with  him,  and  that  gives  him 
influence  with  the  tribe,  and  we  must  get  him  out 
of  the  way.  We'll  just  drive  out  Stonewall  Jackson, 
and  when  Dick  stops  to  examine  his  good  points — 
you  know,  Judge,  I  am  a  great  admirer  of  a  good 
horse — we'll  rush  out  and  snatch  him,  and  get  out 
a  warrant  against  him  for  grand  larceny.'  Now 
you  see  the  animus,  don't  you,  Judge  ? " 

"Dick,"  said  the  Justice,  "I  must  remind  you 
that  you  are  on  your  oath.  How  did  you  learn  of 
this  job,  as  you  call  it — can  you  swear ? " 


60  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

"  Why,  of  course,"  said  Gardner,  "  I  can't  swear 
to  it  myself.  But  my  son  Jonas,  he  will  swear — 

"  Yes,  his  son  Jonas ;  he  will  swear  that  the  old 
man  never  saw  a  horse,"  said  Hamilton  Cummings, 
"  if  necessary." 

"Judge,"  responded  Gardner,  excitedly,  "I  see 
there  is  no  sympathy  for  me  in  this  Court,  and  I 
guess  I  had  better  withdraw  my  plea  of  not  guilty, 
and  confess  that  I  did  steal  that  horse.  You  see, 
these  Cummings  boys  are  lightning  in  everything 
they  undertake,  and  they  are  bound  to  convict  me. 
I  want  to  make  one  explanation,  though,  before 
this  case  is  closed.  It  is  simply  this  :  The  stealing 
of  that  horse  was  the  first  dishonest  act  of  my  life  ; 
and,  even  then,  it  was  not  the  paltry  value  of  the 
horse,  sir,  that  urged  me  to  commit  such  a  disgrace 
ful  'act,  as  my  noble  son  Jonas  would  willingly 
swear  to  ;  it  was  the  name  of  the  animal,  sir,  that 
seduced  me.  I  am  a  Virginian,  Judge  Carter,  and 
the  name  of  that  grand  old  rebel,  sir,  thrills  me 
with " 

"  Time  is  precious,  Dick,"  said  the  Judge,  "  and  I 
am  compelled  to  cut  you  off  in  your  little  speech. 
Do  you  withdraw  your  plea  of  not  guilty,  and  plead 
guilty  ? " 

"  I  do,  sir ;  and  ask  the  mercy  of  the  Court,  this 
being  my  first  offense,  as  Jonas  would  be  perfectly 
willing  to  swear  to.  " 

It  being  his  first  offense,  Judge  Carter  sentenced 
Gardner  to  serve  a  term  of  nineteen  years  in  the 
Territorial  prison  at  Salt  Lake  City,  and  at  once 
made  out  the  necessary  papers  of  commitment. 

The  next  morning  the  western  bound  stage  ar 
rived  before  daylight,  having  only  a  light  mail  and 
no  passengers.  In  the  meantime  two  men,  named 
Jack  and  Bill  Coaster,  had  been  deputized  to  take 


AN   EPISODE   OF   ECHO   CANON.  61 

Gardner  to  Salt  Lake  City.  I  had  secured  an  out 
side  seat,  and  the  brothers  Coaster  and  their  pris 
oner  occupied  the  inside  of  the  coach.  We  left 
Bridger  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The 
weather  had  greatly  moderated,  and  the  sun  came 
out  warm  and  nice.  We  made  about  seven  miles 
an  hour  until  we  arrived  at  Quaking  Asp  Hill,  one 
of  the  highest  spurs  of  the  Wasatch  range,  from 
which  a  magnificent  view  of  diversified  country  was 
obtained.  Proceeding  down  the  western  slope  of 
Quaking  Asp  Hill,  the  landscape  seemed  a  panorama 
of  picturesque  and  long-drawn  beauty.  All  of  a 
sudden  the  mountains  were  transformed  into  huge 
rocks  of  grotesque  shape  and  terrific  perpendicu 
larity,  and  the  whole  network  of  valleys  gave  way 
to  gorges  or  canons  of  indescribable  impressiveness. 

The  most  remarkable  of  all  these  gorges  is  Echo 
Canon,  which,  next  to  Yosemite,  for  rare  beauty, 
grandeur,  and  sublimity,  exceeds  any  natural  pict 
ure  I  have  ever  seen.  This  canon  is  thirty  miles 
in  length,  and  trends  to  the  south-east.  The  Union 
Pacific  Railroad  runs  through  it.  A  tiny  streamlet 
meanders  this  jagged  and  irregular  avenue,  and 
lends  additional  charm.  As  the  tourist  enters  the 
canon,  the  first  attraction  which  meets  his  gaze  is 
Cache  Cave,  a  subterranean  monstrosity  upon  the 
right  of  the  road.  Then  is  presented  a  succession 
of  sights,  such  as  "Swallow's  Nest,"  "Winged 
Rock,"  "Pulpit  Rock,"  "Kettle  Rocks,"  "Phillip's 
Canon,"  "  Hood  Rock,"  "  Great  Republic,"  "  Sen 
tinel  Rocks,"  or  "  Obelisks,"  as  the  rugged-looking 
shafts  at  the  mouth  of  the  canon  are  sometimes 
called. 

We  reached  Echo  Canon  about  half-past  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  stopped  for  dinner  at 
the  first  station.  We  all  finished  our  frugal  meal 


62  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

at  about  the  same  time.  Gardner  had  been  closely 
guarded  by  the  Coasters,  but  had  been  permitted 
to  air  himself  and  stretch  his  limbs  both  at  the 
eating  station  and  Quaking  Asp  Hill.  The  driver 
had  shouted  "  all  set,"  and  I  had  climbed  up  to  my 
seat  on  the  outside,  when,  all  of  a  sudden,  out 
jumped  Gardner  from  the  door  on  the  nigh  side  of 
the  coach,  and  away  he  went  down  the  canon  like 
an  antelope.  In  less  than  two  seconds  the  Coasters 
were  after  him,  each  one  crying  "  Halt,  or  I  will 
shoot!" 

"We  may  as  well  follow  up  and  see  the  fun," 
said  the  driver,  and  off  went  the  team  on  a  clean 
run.  Just  as  we  came  up  to  the  scene  the  Coasters 
were  getting  winded  and  Gardner  was  gaining  on 
them. 

"  We  had  better  try  and  wing  him,"  said  Jack  to 
his  brother,  and  both  of  them  halted,  drew  their 
revolvers,  and  commenced  firing.  Each  took  delib 
erate  but  rapid  aim,  and,  after  several  shots,  Gard 
ner  jumped  into  the  air  and  fell  like  a  dead  man. 

We  all  hastened  to  the  prostrate  prisoner,  and 
found  that  two  bullets  had  gone  through  him,  and 
that  he  was  evidently  dying.  He  lived  only  fifteen 
minutes,  and  spoke  but  once,  gasping  out,  faintly : 

"  It  was  my  first  offense,  boys — ah — ah — it  was 
my  first  offense — ah — and  my  son  Jonas  would 
swear  to  it."  And  then  he  expired,  with  his  head 
in  Bill  Coaster's  lap.  The  latter  at  once  said  : 

"  It  is  getting  dark,  and  we  must  do  something 
with  the  body;  we  had  better  cover  it  up  with 
stones  so  the  coyotes  won't  get  at  it,  and  come  back 
to-morrow  and  bury  it." 

As  if  something  had  suddenly  flashed  to  his 
mind,  Jack  pulled  forth  the  commitment  papers 
and  perused  them  hurriedly  and  excitedly.  At 
last,  after  drawing  a  long  breath,  he  said : 


AN   EPISODE   OF   ECHO   CANON.  63 

"According  to  this  document,  Bill,  we  have  no 
right  to  bury  the  man  at  all.  It  commands  us  to 
take  him  to  Salt  Lake." 

"  You  don't  mean  to  say  that  you  are  going  to 
take  his  carcass  to  Salt  Lake,  do  you  ? "  said  Bill, 
sneeringly.  "  Have  you  ever  seen  any  one  trans 
port  dead  horse  thieves  far  in  this  section  of 
America  ? " 

"  I  pretend  to  say  that  this  document  (holding  up 
the  commitment  papers)  commands  me  to  take  him 
to  Salt  Lake,  dead  or  alive.  Let  me  read  you: 
'  You  are  commanded ' — commanded !  don't  you 
see — '  to  take  the  body ' — the  body !  the  body  ! 
mind  ye,  the  body  ! — '  of  Richard  Gardner  to  Salt 
Lake,'  etc.  Isn't  that  as  plain  as  A  B  C  ?  Don't 
make  any  difference  whether  he's  dead  or  alive,  we 
are  commanded  to  take  his  body.  Am  I  right, 
Tom  ? "  added  Jack  Coaster,  addressing  himself  to 
the  driver. 

"  Well,  it  seems  to  me,  pard,"  responded  the 
driver,  assuming  an  important  air,  "  that  the  word 
body  is  sort  o'  technical,  as  it  were.  They  all  read 
that  way.  I've  seen  lots  of  them.  I  was  deputy- 
sheriff  once  in  California,  and  hac^  a  man  taken 
away  from  me  by  some  Vigilantes,  and  we  buried 
him  right  under  the  limb  of  the  tree  they  swung 
him  from.  If  I  had  my  way  I  wouldn't  pack  a 
dead  man.  But  I'm  only  the  driver,  you  know, 
and  don't  want  to  take  any  responsibility.  If  you 
boys  say  pack  him,  why,  let  us  be  in  a  hurry,  for 
it's  getting  dark." 

"  Now,  Jack,"  said  his  brother,  "  let  me  reason 
with  you.  The  word  'body'  in  that  paper  is  a 
legal  term.  Just  let- me  go  to  the  next  station  and 
get  some  tools,  and  I  will  come  back  to-morrow  and 
bury  him;  and  you  keep  right  on  to  Salt  Lake, 
and  inform  the  authorities  of  all  the  circumstances." 


64  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES; 

Jack  again  read  his  papers:  "'You  are  com 
manded  to  take  the  body' — the  body — " 

"  Well,  hurry  up  about  it  then,"  said  the  driver, 
"  for  I'm  not  going  to  stay  here  any  longer." 

So  the  body  of  Obelisk  Dick  was  strapped  on  be 
hind,  under  the  mail  bags,  and  taken  to  Salt  Lake 
City. 

We  left  the  scene  of  the  tragedy  just  at  dark, 
and  made  thirty  miles  in  four  hours,  including  two 
stoppings.  It  was  one  of  the  grandest  rides  I  ever 
had  in  my  life.  The  driver  was  as  full  of  the  Old 
Nick  as  an  egg  is  of  meat.  He  cracked  his  whip 
every  few  minutes,  the  reverberations  of  which 
sounded  like  rolls  of  musketry.  We  dashed  down 
some  of  the  declines  at  lightning  speed,  the  thunders 
of  our  vehicle  creating  a  din  louder  than  the  move 
ments  of  a  battery  of  artillery.  With  a  dead  man 
behind,  and  a  demijohn  of  spirits  in  front,  the 
driver  seemed  perfectly  at  ease ;  he  plied  the  sting 
ing,  cracking  lash  continually,  and  declared,  every 
once  in  a  while,  that  he  "  didn't  care  whether  school 
kept  or  not." 

Just  as  we  got  well  into  the  canon  the  magnifi 
cent  gorge  was  flooded  with  light  from  an  incom 
parable  full  moon,  and  each  succeeding  turn  in  the 
road  presented,  like  the  kaleidoscope,  a  new  and 
pleasant  sight  to  the  delighted  eye.  Tremendous 
rocks,  of  a  diversity  of  irregularity,  towered  gro 
tesquely  upon  either  hand,  and  shade  and  moon 
light  fantastically  skirmished  with  each  other  along 
their  sides  for  mastery.  Every  object  encountered, 
from  the  murmuring  rivulet  below  to  the  majestic 
formations  above,  electrified  the  senses.  Leaving 
the  "  Obelisks,"  as  the  rugged  old  sentinels  of 
rocks  at  the  mouth  of  the  canon  were  called,  we 
got  into  the  open  country  watered  by  the  WTeber 
River. 


AN    EPISODE   OF    ECHO   CANON.  65 

Nothing  further  transpired  until  we  were  within 
two  or  three  miles  of  Salt  Lake  City,  when  the 
driver  drew  up  his  team,  alighted,  and  took  the 
"  body"  of  Obelisk  Dick  from  the  inside  of  the 
boot  and  strapped  it  to  the  outside.  As  Tom  took 
his  seat  he  quietly  informed  us  of  what  he  had 
done,  and  said,  "  Things  will  pop  when  we  get  into 
town." 

And  "things  did  pop."  We  arrived  at  Wells, 
Fargo  &  Co.'s  office  on  a  clean  canter,  with  at  least 
five  hundred  men  and  boys  following  and  yelling. 
Halsey  (who  had  arrived  two  days  before),  Tracy 
(now  Special  Agent  of  the  Post-office  Department  in 
this  city),  and  Bassett  (at  present  Superintendent 
of  the  Northern  Division  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
Railroad),  will,  I  think,  never  forget  this  "  EPISODE 
OF  ECHO  CANON." 


AN  HOUR  WITH  AN  ANTEDILUVIAN. 


During  the  month  of  July,  1879,  while  on  my 
way  to  Sacramento  from  Los  Angeles,  I  was  com 
pelled  to  wait  over  at  Lathrop  one  morning  from 
eight  o'clock  until  nearly  noon — until  the  arrival  of 
the  Eastern-bound  train.  Always  hungry  at  meal- 
stations,  and  voraciously  so  upon  this  occasion,  I 
had  made  up  my  mind,  even  before  the  arrival  of 
the  train  which  dropped  me  at  Lathrop,  to  indulge 
in  a  repast  cooked  to  order  so  soon  as  the  regular 
train-breakfast  should  have  been  disposed  of  by 
the  through  passengers  for  San  Francisco  and 
Stockton. 

I  sat  down  to  my  breakfast  about  half -past  nine 
o'clock,  and  noticed  that  plates  had  been  placed  for 
two ;  and  I  had  hardly  seated  myself  when  I  was 
joined  by  an  elderly-looking  gentleman,  closely 
shaved,  cleanly  and  well  appareled,  who  pleasantly 
said,  as  he  dropped  into  a  chair  opposite  me : 

"I  have  taken  the  liberty,  my  dear  sir,  if  you 
have  no  objection,  of  joining  you  this  delightful 
morning — and  especially  as  the  waiter  has  kindly 
directed  me  to  a  seat  near  you — in  the  discussion  of 
an  ample  modern  meal;  for,  my  friend,  let  me  assure 
you,  upon  my  honor,  this  is  the  first  time  in  several 
thousand  years  that  I  have  sat  down  to  breakfast 
with  a  gentleman.  If  I  am  not  greatly  mistaken, 
indeed,  the  last  time  I  appeased  my  appetite  it  was 
with  one  Noah,  a  distinguished  navigator." 


AN   HOUR   WITH   AN   ANTEDILUVIAN.  67 

Naturally  enough,  such  a  speech  elicited  my  at 
tention,  and  I  looked  directly  into  the  old  gentle 
man's  face;  but  I  discovered  nothing  except  candor 
and  intelligence  therein,  and  I  asked,  with  an  affec 
tation  of  seriousness : 

"  Did  I  understand  you,  sir,  to  allude  to  Noah,  of 
sacred  history  ?" 

"  I  referred  to  that  same  dear,  departed  old  mar 
iner,  with  whom  I  was  on  terms  of  exceeding  in 
timacy,  and  whom  I  knew  just  as  well  as  I  knew 
Adam,  or  Moses,  or  Solomon.  It  is  true  that  I  was 
well  along  in  years  when  all  of  those  historical 
fellows  were  boys;  but  I  used  to  run  with  them, 
nevertheless.  Why,  I  made  the  first  kite  that 
Methuselah  ever  flew ;  and  I  kicked  foot-ball  with 
Cain  and  Abel  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.  Noah  and 
your  humble  servant  have  spent  many  a  night  out 
together,  and  what  Solomon  and  I  didn't  know  about 
the  erring  gender  don't  grow  luxuriantly  in  any  of 
your  quarter-sections  of  wild  oats  to-day." 

During  the  progress  of  this  last  irreconcilable 
utterance,  I  had  concluded  that  I  had  "pooled 
issues"  with  a  lunatic,  and  I  kept  one  eye  upon  a 
new  carving-knife  lying  upon  my  side  of  the  festive 
board  and  the  other  upon  the  door,  fully  convinced 
that  the  result  of  the  matinee  would  be  a  fight  or  a 
foot-race.  Thinking,  however,  that  some  of  the 
railroad  boys  might  have  "  put  up  the  racket,"  and 
had  set  the  old  gentleman  on,  I  encouraged  the 
seance  by  saying : 

"  Did  any  of  your  old  comrades  have  go-as-you- 
please  walking-matches,  hop-bitter  base-ball  clubs, 

or  Pinaf " 

"Sir!"  he  replied,  in  accents  of  unmistakable 
surprise  and  indignation  ;  "  if  you  think  me  crazy, 
I  will  depart  at  once.  No  gentleman  will  insult  or 


68  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

ridicule  a  person  of  my  age  and  erudition;"  and 
the  distressed  relic  of  the  antediluvian  period  wiped 
his  moistening  eyes  with  the  back  of  an  aged  hand. 

I  became  somewhat  embarrassed;  but  curiosity 
overcame  my  momentary  perplexity,  and  I  broke  a 
short  and  unpleasant  silence  by  calling  for  a  bottle 
of  claret,  and  requesting  the  sad-faced  pilgrim  to 
join  me  in  a  friendly  glass  of  wine.  He  declared 
that  nothing  would  give  him  greater  pleasure ;  and, 
soon  after,  the  waiter  returned  and  filled  two  glasses 
with  "  Chateau  Larose."  My  companion  drank  with 
gusto,  and  remarked,  after  smacking  his  withered  lips: 

"  My  congenial  friend,  that  wine  is  as  superior  as 
any  I  ever  drank  with  Noah  in  his  own  vineyard, 
or  with  Nimrod — when  that  excellent  marksman 
and  your  humble  servant  used  to  go  out  after 
larks." 

I  was  on  the  point  of  interrogating  my  weather 
worn  companion  as  to  whether  he  and  the  other  old 
boys  ever  went  out  on  larks ;  but,  fearing  that  he 
might  possibly  brain  me  on  the  spot,  I  maintained 
silence — a  silence  which  the  old  gentleman  quickly 
broke,  by  saying : 

"As  soon  as  we  have  concluded  our  repast,  sir,  I 
would  like  to  have  a  long  chat  with  you.  By  way 
of  introduction,  however,  I  would  respectfully  ask 
you  your  impression  touching  the  creation  of  this 
beautiful  world.  Do  you  believe  that  this  world 
was  made  in  six  days,  and  that  Adam  was  the  first 
man,  and  that  during  what  fictitious  writers  call 
the  Flood  rain  fell  incessantly  for  forty  days  and 
forty  nights,  inundating  all  creation,  and  that  all 
human  beings  except  Noah  and  his  family,  and  all 
other  living  creatures  except  those  in  the  ark,  were 
drowned  or  were  otherwise  swept  from  the  face  of 
the  earth  ? " 


AN   HOUK  WITH  AN  ANTEDILUVIAN.  69 

"  I  spring  from  old  New  England,  dyed-in-the- 
wool  Puritanical  stock,"  I  replied.  "I  read  my  Bible 
daily,  and  believe  all  that  there  is  in  it.  I  do  not 
examine  the  dangerous  and  polluting  writings  of 
Volney",  Voltaire,  Paine,  Draper,  Darwin,  or  Kenan, 
nor  do  I  dare  to  lend  a  faithless  ear  to  such  heretics 
and  blasphemers  as  Gladstone,  Ingersoll  and  Beecher. 
I  prefer  that  holy  book,  given  me  by  my  dear  old 
mother,  to  telescopes  and  augurs  and  all  other  para 
phernalia  of  scientific  innovation.  I  believe  in  no 
laboratories  but  hell's,  and  hope  for  no  perfect  bliss 
except  that  to  be  found  in  Abraham's  bosom.  I— 

"  You're  about  as  clean  gone  as  any  maniac  I've 
seen  since  the  cunning  Iscariot  sold  his  Master  on  a 
margin ! " 

"  Pardon  me,  sir ;  I  will  come  to  the  point  at 
once.  I  do  believe  that  this  beautiful  world  and 
all  that  in  it  is  was  made  in  six  days,  and  that 
Adam  was  the  first  man ;  and  that,  on  one  occa 
sion,  God,  in  a  great  fit  of  anger,  ruthlessly  de 
stroyed  all  that  he  had  made  except  Noah  and  his 
family  and  two  birds  and  two  beasts  and  two  rat 
tlesnakes  and  two  mosquitoes  and  two  fleas  and 
two  flies,  et  hoc  genus  omne,  two  of  each  kind,  for 
breeding  purposes." 

"  You  do  ? " 

« I  do  !  " 

"  Then  you  are  a  first-class  idiot ! " 

"  Thank  you  ! " 

"  It  is  not  necessary,"  he  added,  quickly.  "  How 
ever,  if  you  do  not  wish  to  listen  to  one  who  knows 
it  all,  without  getting  miffed,  then  we  had  better 
drink  to  each  other's  health  and  separate." 

"  Oh,  dear,  I  could  not  think  of  letting  you  go," 
I  exclaimed ;  "  I  am  getting  interested  in  you.  Go 
on,  and  I  will  keep  perfectly  cool  and 


70  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

"  Well,  then,  why  was  it  not  just  as  feasible  for 
the  Creator  to  have  made  all  of  these  living  things 
over  again,  if  he  at  one  time  made  them 'with  such 
ease  and  perfection  as  you  give  him  credit  for  ?  If 
it  is  pleasant  for  you  to  believe  that  the  Supreme 
Ruler  of  the  universe — He  who  pencils  the  flowers 
and  marks  the  constellations  —  did  so  far  forget 
Himself,  in  His  inexcusable  anger,  as  to  destroy  His 
matchless  handiwork,  is  it  possible  that  he  selected 
a  few  wretched  human  beings,  a  score  or  two  of 
worthless  animals,  and  a  collection  of  repulsive  in 
sects  and  reptiles  as  spectators  and  survivors  of  so 
grand  a  catastrophe  ?" 

I  was  still  all  astonishment,  and  hardly  knew 
whether  to  assume  an  air  of  levity  or  seriousness. 
It  was  plain  enough  to  see  that  the  old  gentleman 
was  an  unbeliever.  He  continued : 

"  You  believe  in  the  creation  of  this  world  as 
related  by  the  translators  of  the  Bible  ?" 

"Ido." 

"You  believe  that  God  created  the  earth,  and 
lighted  it  up  with  the  sun,  moon  and  stars ;  you 
swallow  the  Jonah  business,  and  that  exaggerated 
story  about  the  flood ;  you  interpret  those  anec 
dotes  about  Daniel  in  the  lions'  den,  the  children  in 
the  fiery  furnace,  the  destruction  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  by  hell-fire  and  brimstone,  and  the  turn 
ing  of  Lot's  wife  into  a  pillar  of  salt ;  the  immacu 
late  conception;  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  et 
cetera,  et  cetera,  as  cold  facts,  just  as  they  are  re 
lated  in  that  wonderful  book  of  yours,  which  is 
already  being  tinkered  to  pieces  by  a  lot  of  old 
theological  scrubs  and  demagogues,  who  ought  to  be 
transported  in  a  gang  to  the  Cannibal  Islands  !  and 
don't  you  forget  it !" 

"  Sir,  I " 


AN   HOUR  WITH  AN   ANTEDILUVIAN.  71 

"Listen !" 

"Proceed,  sir." 

"  Herr  Kalb,  the  German  savant,  in  a  work  re 
cently  published,  shows  that  there  was  a  total 
eclipse  of  the  moon  concomitantly  with  the  earth 
quake  that  occurred  when  Julius  Csesar  was  assas 
sinated,  on  the  15th  of  March,  B.  C.  44.  He  has 
also  calculated  the  Jewish  calendar  to  A.  D.  41,  and 
the  result  of  his  researches  fully  confirms  the  facts 
recorded  by  the  Evangelists,  of  the  wonderful  phy 
sical  events  that  accompanied  the  Crucifixion. 
Astronomical  calculations  prove,  without  a  shadow 
of  doubt,  that  on  the  14th  day  of  the  Jewish  month 
Nissan  (April  6),  there  was  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun, 
which  was  accompanied  in  all  probability  by  the 
earthquake,  '  when  the  vail  of  the  Temple  was  rent 
from  the  top  to  the  bottom,  and  the  earth  did  quake 
and  the  rock  rent.'  (Matt.  XXXII,  51.)  While  St. 
Luke  describes  the  eclipse  in  these  words  :  '  And  it 
was  the  sixth  hour  (12  noon),  and  there  was  dark 
ness  over  all  the  land  till  the  ninth  hour  (3  o'clock 
p.  M.),  and  the  sun  was  darkened.' "  (Luke  XXII., 
44.)  This  mode  of  reckoning  corresponds  perfectly 
with  the  result  of  another  calculation  Herr  Kalb 
made  by  reckoning  backward  from  the  great  total 
eclipse  of  April,  1818,  allowing  for  the  difference 
between  the  old  and  new  styles,  which  also  give 
April  6th  as  the  date  of  the  new  moon  in  the  year 
A.  D.  31.  As  the  vernal  equinox  of  the  year  fell 
on  March  25th,  and  the  Jews  ate  their  Easter  Lamb 
and  celebrated  their  Frib  Passoh,  or  feast  of  the 
Passover,  on  the  following  new  moon,  it  is  clear 
April  6th  was  identical  with  Nissan  14th,  of  the 
Jewish  calendar,  which,  moreover,  was  on  Friday, 
the  Paraskevee,  or  day  of  preparation  for  the  Sab 
bath,  and  this  agrees  with  the  Hebrew  Talmud. 


72  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

Thus,  by  the  united  testimony  of  astronomy, 
archaeology,  traditional  and  biblical  history,  there 
can  be  but  little  doubt  that  the  date  of  the  Cruci 
fixion  was  April  6th,  A.  D.  31 ;  and  no  doubt  what 
ever  that  any  of  the  wonderful  physical  events  of 
that  time  had  anything  to  do  with  said  Crucifixion. 
So  much  for  that  point.  Touching  the  planets,  or 
stars,  M.  Figuier,  a  noted  French  scientific  gentle 
man,  in  a  statement  that  modern  astronomy  has 
demonstrated  that  there  are  other  worlds  than 
ours,  that  the  earth  simply  makes  a  part  of  a  class 
or  group  of  stars  which  do  not  differ  essentially, 
and  that  there  is  an  infinity  of  other  globes  like  it, 
proceeds  to  consider  the  internal  affairs  of  the  other 
worlds.  Since  there  is  nothing  to  distinguish  the 
earth  from  the  other  planets  of  our  solar  system- 
Mercury,  Venus,  Mars,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  Uranus,  and 
Neptune,  he  argues  that  we  must  find  in  the  others 
as  we  find  here  —  air  and  water,  a  hard  soil,  rivers 
and  seas,  mountains  and  valleys.  There  must  be 
found  also  in  them  vegetation  and  trees,  and  tracts 
covered  with  verdure  and  shade.  There  must  be  in 
them  animals,  and  even  men,  or  at  least  beings  su 
perior  to  animals,  and  corresponding  to  our  human 
type.  I  happen  to  know  that  the  physical  and  cli- 
matological  connections  of  the  earth  and  the  other 
planets  are  identical.  On  these  planets,  as  on  the 
earth,  the  sun  shines  and  disappears,  and  cold  and 
darkness  succeed  to  heat  and  light.  In  them,  as 
on  the  earth,  the  rich  carpet  of  herbage  covers 
the  plains,  and  luxuriant  woods  cover  the  mount 
ains.  Rivers  flow  majestically  on  to  the  seas. 
Winds  blow  regularly  or  irregularly  and  purify 
the  atmosphere  by  mingling  their  strata  charged 
in  different  degrees  with  the  produce  of  the  evap 
oration  of  their  soil.  In  quiet  nights,  dwellers 


AN   HOUR  WITH  AN   ANTEDILUVIAN.  73 

on  these  planets  see  the  same  heavenly  spectacle 
that  delights  our  eyes,  the  same  constellations, 
the  same  celestial  visitors.  They  have  panoramic 
views  of  the  planetary  globes  with  their  follow 
ing  of  faithful  satellites  and  luminous  stars  shin 
ing  like  gently-brandished  torches.  Once  in  a 
while  there  is  a  sudden  luminous  trail  which  fur 
rows  the  heavens  like  a  flash  of  silver ;  it  is  a 
star  that  shoots  and  drops  into  the  depth  of  space. 
Again,  it  is  a  comet  with  a  beautiful  tail  that  comes 
to  bring  news  from  worlds  millions  of  miles  away. 
The  planetary  man  corresponds  to  the  terrestrial 
man.  In  the  planets  the  process  of  creation  of  or 
ganized  life  must  be  the  same  as  in  the  earth  ;  the 
successive  order  of  appearance  of  living  creatures  is 
the  same  as  on  our  globe.  And,  like  our  terrestrial 
man,  the  planetary  man  dies,  and  that  is  the  last  of 
him,  I  think.  Touching  the  theory  of  the  destruc 
tion  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  Professor  Proctor 
writes  to  a  friend :  "  The  idea  that  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  may  have  been  destroyed  by  meteoric 
downfall  is  not  altogether  a  new  one.  I  advanced 
it,  but  not  very  seriously,  several  years  ago,  in  the 
English  Mechanic,  and  it  was  taken  up  quite  se 
riously  by  an  ingenious,  though  rather  fiery  corre 
spondent  of  that  journal,  E.  L.  Garbett,  the  well- 
known  architect.  He  took  up  the  theory  precisely 
in  the  form  in  which  I  had,  half  jestingly,  suggested 
it,  viz.,  that  the  meteor  system  which  produced  the 
destruction  of  the  cities  of  the  Plain  was  the  so- 
called  November  system,  which,  at  that  remote  date, 
would  have  been  a  September  system.  It  can  be 
shown  that  Temple's  comet,  in  whose  track  the  me 
teors  travel,  must  have  passed  near,  and  may  have 
passed  very  near,  indeed,  to  the  earth,  at  about  the 
time  which  tradition  assigns  to  the  destruction  of 


74 


OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 


Sodom  and  Gomorrah.    Moreover,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  the  comet's  meteor  train  was  then  far 
more  compact  than  it  is  at  present.    Again,  it  is  cer 
tain  that  among  the  meteors  of  that  November  sys 
tem  are  many  which  far  exceed  in  size  those  seen 
during  the  display  of  November  13-14,  1866;  or 
during  the  display  of  November  13-14, 1833  ;  some 
of  the  falling  stars  were  bright  enough  to  cause  dis 
tinct  shadows  to  be  thrown.     Supposing  the  me 
teors  forming  the  comet  itself,  or   very  near   the 
comet,  to  be  larger  yet,  they  would   probably  be 
able  to  break  their  way   through  the   air  as  the 
larger  meteorites    do,  and  if  strewn  with  propor 
tionate  density,  so  as  to  fall  in  the  form  of  a  com 
pact  stream,  they  would  descend  as  a  very  destruct 
ive  shower  upon  whatever  part  of  the  earth's  surface 
happened  to  be  most  fully  exposed  to  them.     Now, 
it  happens,  strangely  enough,  that  at  the  time  men 
tioned  in  the  verse  you  quote :  '  The  sun  was  risen 
upon  the  earth  when  Lot  entered  into  Zoar ;  then 
the  Lord  rained  upon  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  brim 
stone  from  the  Lord  out  of  heaven ;'  the  destroyed 
cities  lay  almost  centrally  on  that  disk  of  the  earth 
which  was  turned  to  the  '  radiant '  of  the  November 
meteors.     If  ever  a  special  and  not  very  large   dis 
trict  of  the  earth  could  be  so  rained  upon  by  meteors 
that  towns  in  it  could  be  destroyed,  the  catastrophe 
would  unquestionably  be  attended  by  just  such  cir 
cumstances  as  these;  that  is,  the  region  would  be 
as  fully  as  possible  exposed  to  the  hail  of  meteors, 
and  this  hail  would  be  as  heavy  as  possible,  which 
would  require  that  either  the  comet  itself  or  a  part 
of  its  meteor  train  very  close  to  the  comet,  should 
be  the  source  of  the  meteoric  hail.     In   the   case 
supposed,  the  velocity  you  have  mentioned  would 
be  far  exceeded,  for  not  only  does  the  earth  herself 


AN   HOUR  WITH   AN   ANTEDILUVIAN.  75 

speed  along  around  the  sun  at  the  rate  of  1,100 
miles  per  minute,  or  more  than  18  miles  per  second  ; 
but  the  November  meteors  travel  with  a  greater 
velocity — about  24  miles  per  second — meeting  her 
almost  full  tilt,  so  that  we  have  for  the  velocity 
with  which  the  meteors  rush  through  the  air  some 
thing  like  40  miles  per  second.  Add  to  this,  that 
when  the  meteors  of  November  13th  and  14th, 
1866,  were  examined  with  the  spectroscope,  the  ele 
ment  which  was  found  to  be  most  largely  present 
was  sodium,  the  chief  component  of  our  common 
salt;  whence  may  be  derived  a  'naturalized'  ex 
planation  of  the  fate  of  Lot's  wife." 

"  What  do  you  think,  now,  sir  ? " 

"  I  think  precisely  as  I  did  before.  You  know, 
I  told  you,  at  the  start,  that  I  stand  by  the  Bible. 
I  acknowledge  its  precepts  and  its  laws.  I  believe 
absolutely  in  the  existence  of  an  Omnipotent  Being, 
and  in  the  divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I 
am  willing  to  admit  that  science  places  many  ob 
stacles  in  the  pathway  to  eternity.  But  I  sincerely 
believe  that  theology  will  never  be  destroyed. 
Huxley  and  Darwin  and  Ingersoll  may  attack  in 
force,  but  they  can  never  triumph  over  the  history 
of  human  beliefs,  nor  can  they  eradicate  the  con 
victions  of  men,  or  relax  the  hold  of  Christian 
truth,  upon  the  mind.  No  discoveries  and  achieve 
ments  of  physical  science,  says  a  writer  in  the 
Quarterly  Review,  can  repress  religious  aspiration, 
solve  the  mysteries  of  being,  reduce  man  to  a  ma 
terial  organism,  and  empty  the  universe  of  God.  ^  It 
would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  the  triumphs  of  mind 
over  matter  were  to  result  in  the  identification  of 
mind  and  matter ;  and,  stranger  still,  if  the  issue  of 
critical  inquiries  into  religious  truth  were  to  be  that 
— in  the  highest  acts  of  which  our  faculties  are 


76  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

capable,  the  discernment  and  reception  of  religious 
truth — our  faculties  were  to  be  utterly  discredited. 
But  religion  has  its  seat  and  home  in  the  spirit  of 
man  too  deeply  and  securely  fixed  to  be  driven  out 
by  conjectures  as  to  the  date  of  manuscripts  and 
historic  records,  or  by  theories  of  human  descent 
and  speculations  as  to  the  origin  of  life  and  mind 
from  the  mechanism  of  the  universe.  The  continu 
ance  of  religion  and  the  perpetuity  of  the  vigor  of 
Christian  truth  and  experience  are  the  continuance 
and  perpetuity  of  theology  ;  for  theology  is  only 
the  systematic  form  which  religious  convictions  and 
ideas  are  made  to  assume.  Comte  regarded  the 
age  of  theology  and  metaphysics  as  past,  but  he 
himself  brought  back  religion  in  spurious  guise, 
and  his  disciples  have  brought  back  metaphysics 
under  cover  of  a  new  definition.  Theology  thus 
far  has  not  been  destroyed.  But  Professor  Huxley, 
in  one  of  his  earlier  reviews,  says :  '  Extinguished 
theologians  lie  about  the  cradle  of  every  science,  as 
the  strangled  snakes  beside  that  of  Hercules.'  The 
expression  is  graphic  and  vigorous,  but  for  a  disci 
ple  of  the  exact  sciences  it  is  singularly  inexact. 
It  implies  that  theology  is  not  a  science  ;  it  asserts 
that  theologians  have  not  simply  been  advised  to 
mind  their  own  business,  and  like  other  men  of 
science,  readjust  the  foundations  of  their  systems 
—which  would  be  sound  advice — but  that  they 
have  been  extinguished  by  science ;  and  it  incor 
rectly  represents  what  is  the  actual  state  of  things 
with  relation  to  scientific  progress.  Now,  science 
is,  according  to  the  Professor's  own  definition, 
'  trained  and  organized  common  sense,'  or,  we  may 
say,  knowledge  verified  and  generalized ;  and  as 
mind,  morals,  language,  religion,  and  the  like,  are 
objects  of  knowledge,  trained  and  organized  common 


AN    HOUR   WITH   AN    ANTEDILUVIAN.  77 

sense  may  deal  with  them;  and  so  there  arises 
sciences  of  mind,  of  morals,  of  language,  of  reli 
gious  truth,  as  well  as  of  material  things.  More 
over,  has  there  been,  so  far  as  history  and  experi 
ence  may  be  trusted,  a  single  theologian,  properly 
so-called,  extinguished  by  science  ?  Athanasius 
was  a  theologian,  but  his  views  of  the  Divine  Na 
ture  physical  science  does  not  affect,  and  subsequent 
theological  science  has  in  great  measure  en 
dorsed.  Augustine  was  a  theologian,  but  his  con 
ception  of  man  and  his  deepest  needs  physical 
science  has  corroborated  rather  than  destroyed. 
Luther  and  Calvin  were  theologians,  but  their  doc 
trines  of  salvation  by  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  religious  experience  of  subsequent  generations 
justifies,  and  modern  science  has  not  touched.  Nay, 
more:  these  great  theologians  were  perusing  re 
ligious  truth  in  the  scientific  methods  of  their  age 
when  physical  science  was  verily  in  its  cradle, 
dreaming  vain  and  foolish  dreams,  or  proposing 
childish  and  futile  inquiries.  Instead  of  extinguish 
ing  theologians  as  Hercules  strangled  snakes,  science 
has  always,  like  Cronos,  devoured  her  own  children. 
The  Copernican  theory  of  the  universe  extinguished 
the  Ptolemaic ;  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  doctrine  of  at 
traction  extinguished  Descartes'  doctrine  of  vortices  ; 
astronomy  extinguished  astrology,  chemistry  al 
chemy,  electricity  magic  ;  and  recently  the  process 
has  been  repeated.  In  natural  philosophy,  the  cor 
puscular  hypothesis  of  light  has  been  discredited  by 
the  undulatory  hypothesis  ;  in  geology,  the  convul- 
sionists  have  been  devoured  by  the  uniformitarians  ; 
and  in  natural  history,  evolutionists  are  attempting 
to  dispose  of  the  creationists,  and  the  advocates  of 
the  theory  of  the  transmutation  of  species  to  make 
short  work  of  the  advocates  of  the  theory  of  the 


78  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

persistence  and  immutability  of  species.  It  would 
really  be  more  exact  to  say,  '  Extinguished  scientific 
teachers  lie  about  the  cradle  of  every  science,'  etc.; 
for  it  is  Cuvier  and  Agassiz,  not  Augustine  and 
Calvin,  that  Darwin  and  Hseckel  are  strangling ; 
and  it  is  certainly  M.  Comte  and  Messrs.  Congreve 
and  Frederick  Harrison,  and  not  Archdeacon  Paley, 
and  Bishop  Butler,  that  Professor  Huxley  extin 
guishes.  Theologians  and  theology  may  be  largely 
benefited  by  physical  science,  they  will  not  be  ex 
tinguished  by  it;  nay,  rather  they  will  be  resusci 
tated.  And  may  we  no.t  ask  with  all  respect 
whether  the  scientific  method  was  not  first  practiced 
by  theologians,  and  afterwards  adopted  with  such 
great  results  by  men  of  physical  science  ?  At  all 
events,  the  kingdom  of  God  had  been  entered  in  the 
spirit  of  the  little  child  long  before  the  kingdom  of 
man  was  entered  in  the  same  spirit,  and  the  the 
ology  of  a  thousand  years  ago  is  a  much  wiser  and 
truer  thing  than  the  physical  science  of  that  same 
age." 

"Ah,  my  friend,"  he  said,  "you  have  to  fall  back 
on  the  same  old  line  of  argument.  Let  us  go  and 
take  seats  in  the  bar-room."  Which  we  at  once 
did ;  and  subsequently  we  moved  out  of  the  sitting- 
room,  and  took  chairs  on  the  platform. 

As  soon  as  we  got  satisfactorily  located,  the  old 
gentleman  resumed : 

"  Now,  sir,  would  you  like  to  have  me  relate  a 
story  from  the  very  beginning  down  to  the  present 
time  ?  Would  you  like  me  to  present  an  accurate  and 
detailed  account  of  the  commencement  and  growth  of 
what  we  call  the  world,  or,  to  speak  more  scientific 
ally,  the  growth  of  our  planet,  from  its  gaseous 
birth  in  space,  through  its  process  of  assimilation, 
its  dark  Plutonian  periods,  its  glacial  epochs,  its 


AN   HOUR  WITH   AN   ANTEDILUVIAN.  79 

terms  of  aqueous,  ferniferous,  reptilian  and  mam- 
miferous  life,  to  the  time  when  humanity  began, 
some  few  thousands  of  years  ago  ? " 

I  became  more  and  more  interested,  and  while  I 
hardly  knew  what  to  say,  responded : 

"My  good  friend,  I  do  not  entirely  understand 
you.  If  I  intelligently  comprehend  the  tenor  of 
your  interrogatories,  I  should  reply  by  saying  that 
there  are  no  materials  for  such  a  sketch.  I  am 
quite  convinced  that — 

"  Monuments  !  "  he  cried,  "  exist,  by  which  science 
has  been  enabled  to  mark  with  surprising  probabil 
ity  and  accuracy,  indeed,  the  stages  of  the  creative 
drama ;  forming  a  picture  in  outline,  as  it  were, 
against  infinite  space,  which,  by  reason  of  its  very 
distance,  resolves  its  lines  into  an  apparent  juxta 
position,  sufficient  for  comprehension." 

This  utterance  was  made  rapidly,  and  I  became 
more  and  more  interested  as  the  old  gentleman 
warmed  up ;  and  he  grew  merry  as  well  as  warm- 
grew  as  merry  as  the  poor,  happy  little  "  Reina 
Coquina"  of  the  Alhambra,  and  again  interrogated: 

"  Do  you  believe,  sir,  that  Deucalion  made  man 
by  throwing  stones  over  his  shoulder  ?  That  Jupi 
ter's  head  burst  open  to  give  birth  to  Minerva  ? 
That  Venus  was  born,  one  fine  morning,  of  the  sea- 
foam  ?  That  nothing  stopped  Saturn  eating  his  own 
children  but  cracking  his  teeth  one  day  on  a  stone  ? 
That  Pegasus  flew  to  heaven  without  a  rider  ? " 

Again  I  was  amazed.  This  violent  departure 
from  antediluvian  scenes,  this  scornful  raid  ^upon 
mythological  deities,  again  aroused  my  suspicions 
that  all  was  not  right.  I  thought,  however,  that  I 
would  give  my  eccentric  friend  one  more  chance, 
even  if  he  pitched  into  JLsop  and  LaFontaine,  and 
ended  off  by  extinguishing  the  lamp  of  Aladdin  and 


80  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

smashing  the  slipper  of  Cinderella.  But  he  pro 
ceeded  no  further  with  his  erratic  tergiversations ; 
indeed,  right  at  this  point  he  gathered  himself  up 
for  a  tremenduous  scientific  effort,  and  said : 

"  I  will  commence  with  the  primitive  epoch,  and 
propose  statements  and  calculations  in  support  of 
the  gaseous  or  nebulous  theory  of  the  earth's  forma 
tion,  showing  that,  at  the  inconceivable  heat  of 
195,000°  Centigrade,  which  is  received  as  the  mean 
temperature  of  the  interior  of  the  earth,  our  planet 
could  have  been,  at  the  first,  only  a  vast  puff  of 
vapor,  eighteen  hundred  times  as  large  as  its  pres 
ent  bulk.  Among  the  agencies  which  would  ope 
rate  in  its  condensation,  its  passage  in  its  great 
circuit  through  the  frigid  planetary  intervals,  where 
the  temperature,  according  to  the  best  scientific 
information  of  the  present  day,  cannot  be  less  than 
100°  below  zero,  must  by  no  means  be  forgotten. 
This  would  gradually  form  the  crust  of  the  earth, 
which  now,  by  some  thirty  miles  of  thickness  only, 
holds  us  out  of  the  incandescent  horrors  below. 
Just  think  of  it !  At  the  same  time,  the  molten 
mass,  operated  upon  by  the  attraction  of  the  sun 
and  moon — as  it  still  is,  though  now  so  much  spent 
that  it  only  issues  volcanically  in  its  throes — would 
rush  up  in  great  waves  when  the  crust  was  thinner, 
not  only  forming  those  immense  wedges  of  primi 
tive  granite  which  erect  themselves  in  many  of  the 
mountain  ranges  of  America  and  elsewhere,  but 
many  of  those  irregular  stratifications  which  make 
the  sections  of  rocky  deposits  look  like  huge  agates 
for  a  Titan's  ornaments.  These  eruptive  rocks  are 
called  Plutonic  and  volcanic  — the  former  including 
the  granites  and  the  kindred  compact  rocks  formed 
far  below  the  surface,  and  cooled  under  great  pres 
sure  ;  and  the  latter,  including  trachytes,  basalts 


AN   HOUR  WITH   AN   ANTEDILUVIAN.  81 

and  lavas,  which  are  of  looser  textures,  and  have 
cooled  nearer  to,  and  upon,  the  surface.  By  the 
way,  my  friend— and  of  this  you  are  probably 
aware — there  are  about  three  hundred  volcanoes  on 
our  planet,  more  or  less  active,  a  number  ^of  which, 
when  you  for  a  moment  pause  to  consider  what 
they  serve  to  vent,  no  one  will  be  disposed  to 
grudge,  however  wide  a  birth  he  may  wish  to  give 
them." 

"  Go  on,  my  friend,"  I  said,  as  the  old  gentleman 
drew  in  a  long  breath;  "I  am  very  much  in 
terested." 

"  The  next  great  epoch,"  he  continued,  "  is  the 
transition — 

"Proceed  with  the  transition  scene;  I  am  all 
attention." 

"  When  light  began  to  pierce  through  the  deep 
mists  of  the  exhaling  and  condensing  atmosphere, 
and  the  mollusks  and  primitive  vegetables  came  to 
life." 

"  Proceed,  sir." 

"  This  epoch  is  divided  into  four  periods.  The 
Silurian  period— isolated  projections,  only,  begin 
ning  to  gather  around  the  accumulation  which 
slowly  formed  the  land  divisions  of  the  present 
time  ;  shallow  and  extended  seas,  under  which  reefs 
and  rocks  were  rising ;  a  dim  light  above,  and  the 
simplest  forms  of  vegetable  and  crustaceous  life. 
In  the  Devonian  (or  old  red  sandstone)  period,  all 
things  had  perceptibly  changed  and  advanced." 

"  How  do  you  know  of  all  this  ?  "  I  involuntarily 
asked. 

"  I  know  of  all  this  because  I  was  one  of  the  first 
men  on  earth,"  he  replied. 

"  You  were  not  living  at  the  age  of  which  you 
speak." 


82  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

"  No,  but  when  I  first  had  my  being,  the  foot 
prints  of  time  were  fresher  than  they  are  to-day, 
and  yet  your  own  scientific  men  will  tell  you  almost 
as  much  as  I  can.  Please  don't  interrupt  me  so 
often.  Much  that  I  tell  you  are  truths  of  my  own 
knowledge  and  research ;  and  science  and  study  will 
corroborate  whatever  I  say.  I'll  make  you  ashamed 
of  yourself  before  I  get  through  with  you,  my  young 
friend." 

"  Well,  don't  get  vexed,  now,  old  man ;  proceed 
with  your  chronology,  and  I'll  not  interrupt  you 
again." 

"^  Well,  then,  as  I  said  before,  during  the  Devonian 
period  all  things  had  changed  and  advanced ;  the 
primitive  Tribolites,  with  their  four-hundred-faced 
eyes,  of  whose  remains  whole  quarries  were  formed, 
had  given  way  to  more  perfectly  articulated  crea 
tures  ;  vertebrated  life,  as  represented  by  a  consid 
erable  variety  of  fishes,  also  appeared ;  there  had 
been,  as  yet,  no  forests,  but  now  they  began  to  show 
themselves — first  in  the  shape  of  gigantic  ferns; 
then  in  asparagus  trees,  from  forty  to  ninety  feet  in 
height ;  thus  introducing  the  marvelous  carbonifer 
ous  era,  which  is  divided  into  sub-periods,  those  of 
carboniferous  limestone  and  of  the  coal  measures. 
These  periods  were  of  unknown  and  incalculable 
lengths;  it  is  estimated  that  one  hundred  and 
twenty-two  thousand  four  hundred  years  would  be 
required  to  form  only  sixty  feet  of  coal.  The  as 
tonishing  character  of  these  calculations  appears 
when  you  bear  in  mind,  young  man,  that  the  coal 
measures  in  Wales  are  twelve  thousand  feet  by 
actual  trial.  The  characteristics  of  this  period  of 
wonderful  provision  for  the  latter  ages  were  excess 
ive  heat  and  humidity,  and  an  equal  and  high  tem 
perature  throughout  the  world.  Owing  to  the  in- 


AN   HOUR   WITH   AN   ANTEDILUVIAN.  83 

ward  heat,  there  was  no  perceptible  climatic  differ 
ence  between  the  poles  and  the  equator ;  vegetation 
grew  with  a  rankness  and  a  rapidity  that  baffles 
conception;  but  there  were,  as  yet,  no  birds,  no 
mammifers,  no  saurians.  One  or  two  muddy  rep 
tiles  of  small  size  appear,  the  principal  of  which  is 
the  Archegosaurus  minor,  a  queer  thing  with  a  head 
like  a  pointed  shovel.  The  Permian  period  was 
similar  in  its  characteristics,  but  progressive,  a  few 
vegetable  and  animal  species  being  added  ;  among 
the  latter  of  which  may  be  noted  the  Productus 
Horridus,  a  nightmare  abortion  of  slimy  fertility." 
The  gentleman  again  drew  a  long  breath,  and  I 
hazarded  an  opinion,  thus  : 

"  This  general  epoch  unquestionably  corresponds 
to  that  Second  Day,  as  recorded  in  sacred  history,  in 
which  God  said,  '  Let  there  be  light' — the  influence 
of  the  sun  being  gradually  admitted  through  the 
reluctantly-subsiding  elemental  conflicts  of  many 
years." 

His  only  reply  was : 

"  Many  years  ?     Many  millions  of  years! " 
And  again  he  proceeded : 

"  Now  comes  the  Secondary  Epoch — divided  into 
the  Triasic,  the  Jurassic,  and  the  Cretaceous  periods. 
This  epoch  introduces  many  kinds  of  forest  trees, 
reptiles  of  appalling  size,  form,  and  strength,  and 
crustaceans  in  such  numbers  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  earth's  surface  is  covered  with  them,  and 
much  of  its  substance  composed  of  their  calcareous 
remains.  The  salt  and  chalk  rocks  were  found 
—the  latter  being  composed  almost  entirely  of  mi 
nute  crustaceans,  as  the  analysis  of  any  bit  of  chalk 
powder  under  the  microscope  indicates.  The  Sec 
ondary  Epoch  is  the  most  marvelous  of  the  chapters 
of  creation.  Here  are  the  great  saurians^ — the 


OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 


Nothosaurus,  the  Ichthyosaurus,  the  terrible  Pleio- 
saurus,  and  the  dreadful  Pterodactylus,  to  see  only 
whose  bones  chill  the  blood.     It  was  an  epoch  of 
ferocious   terror.     These    creatures    are   found    in 
fossil,  with  the  remains  of  their  own  species,  as  well 
as  of  others,  within  them,  as  they  were  overtaken 
in  acts  of  carnage.     Their  conflicts  in  the  midst  of 
convulsions    of    nature    must   have   been   fearful. 
Pleiosaurii  and  Ichthyosauri!   of    prodigious   pro 
portions  filled  the  seas.     Innumerable  ammonites 
floated  on  the  surface  of  the  water — the  nautilii  of 
those  days — some  of  them  three  and  four  feet  in 
diameter.     Turtles   and  crocodiles   of    tremendous 
size  crowded  about  the  shores.     The  pressure  of  the 
atmosphere  was  diminished,  the  earth  was  less  hot 
—something  like  climate  was   establishing  itself. 
Vegetation  increased  in  forest  forms,  the  palms  and 
other   trees   appeared;  and   at   last,  in  the  Upper 
Oolite  division  of  the  Jurassic  period,  the  first  bird 
was  discovered — the  famous  bird  of  Solenhofen— 
the  feet  and  feathers  of  which  have  been  found  in 
the  lithographic   quarries   of  the  present  age.     A 
few  other  birds  appeared  in  the  latter  part  of   this 
epoch,  in  the  Cretaceous  period,  so-called,  because 
the  rocks  deposited  by  the  sea   during  the  process 
are  almost  entirely  composed  of  carbonate  of  lime 
from  remains  of  shell-fish.     In  this  period  the  great 
terrestrial  saurians,  the  Iguanodon  and  Megalosau- 
rus,  appeared,  preparing  the  way  in  the  uniformly 
progressive   processes   of   nature   for   the  gigantic 
mammifers  which  were  next  to  grace  the  swelling 
scene." 

Taking  advantage  of  a  momentary  pause,  I  asked 
the  old  gentleman  if  he  would  not  go  inside  and 
take  a  glass  of  wine,  or  something  stronger,  to 
which  he  replied : 


AN  HOUR  WITH  AN  ANTEDILUVIAN.  85 

"  The  theme  cramps  my  time — I  cannot  stop." 
"  Proceed  then,"  I  said,  "  I  am  all  attention." 
"  The  Tertiary  Epoch  follows,  with  the  mighty 
Pachyderms.  Just  observe,  my  friend,  the  course 
of  nature :  In  the  Primitive  Epoch — chaos,  convul 
sions,  darkness;  in  the  Transition — ferns,  fishes, 
light ;  in  the  Secondary — trees,  succulents,  reptiles  ; 
now,  in  the  Tertiary,  the  whole  face  of  the  earth 
blooms,  and  the  mammif ers  rule  supreme — not  few 
nor  small,  but  in  countless  numbers  and  of  great 
size.  Of  the  saurians  and  other  reptiles  we  have 
only  fossil  remains ;  but  of  the  m#mmif  ers,  some 
have  come  down  almost  to  your  own  time,  pre 
served  in  Siberian  ice,  in  the  skin  and  sinews 
which  they  had  in  life.  There  are  three  divisions 
of  the  Tertiary  Epoch — the  Eocene,  Miocene,  and 
Pliocene — indicating  by  their  etmyology  that  they 
are  more  or  less  remote  from  the  Beginning  and 
from  the  Present.  There  were  plants  in  these  pe 
riods  which  are  still  represented  upon  earth.  The 
horse,  too,  appeared;  though,  singularly  enough, 
smaller  than  yours ,  and  the  mammoth,  the  remains 
of  which  you  have  seen  in  your  museums.  The 
mammif  ers,  trees,  and  flowers,  now  only  found  within 
the  tropics,  flourished  in  those  periods  in  what  are 
termed  the  northern  parts  of  our  globe,  showing 
surprising  differences  of  temperature  between  those 
days  and  yours.  A  great  variety  of  these  large- 
framed  mammifers,  which  fed  upon  antediluvian 
forests,  have  been  discovered.  Of  these  the  Paleo- 
therium  magnum,  constructed  from  many  fossils, 
by  Cuvier ;  the  Xiphodon  gracilis,  for  which  you 
are  indebted  to  the  same  great  naturalist ;  the  Dino- 
therium,  the  Mastodon  gigantus,  found  in  North 
America  in  1705,  but  fully  collected  and  erected  in 
1801,  by  Peale;  and  the  Sivaltherium^  or  four- 

4 


86  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

horned  stag,  about  as  large  as  a  modern-sized  ele 
phant,  are  among  the  more  important.  It  is  prob 
able  that  at  the  close  of  the  Pliocene  period  the 
great  landed  divisions  of  the  world — Europe  and 
Asia  especially — had  gained  very  nearly  their  pre 
sent  outline."  * 

"  I  should  think  that  your — 

"  Don't  interrupt  me !  I  now  come  to  the  Quar- 
tenary  Epoch,  which  is  distinguished  by  a  series  of 
European  deluges ;  the  Glacial  period,  and  by  the 
appearance  of  man  and  the  subsequent  Asiatic 
deluge.  This  epoch  is  divided  into  the  Past  Plio 
cene,  and  the  Present  (or  upper)  Pliocene  periods. 
It  is  the  era  of  the  Mammoth  (Elephas  primogenus) 
whose  skeleton  stands  for  wonder  in  the  St.  Peters 
burg  Museum,  grandly  rescued  from  Siberian  ice ; 
of  the  colossal  Spelacean  bear,  tiger  and  hyena ;  of 
the  prodigious  edentata — the  Megatherium,  which 
burrowed  in  the  earth,  with  limbs  that  could  tear 
up  the  roots  of  great  trees  like  thread ;  and  the 
Megylonyx  and  the  Mylodon,  all  of  America.  Of 
the  deluges,  there  were  two  before  the  Asiatic,  dis 
tinctly  marked  by  the  deluvium  which  appears 
north  of  the  fortieth  and  fiftieth  parallels  in 
Europe  and  America,  and  in  the  corresponding 
southern  hemisphere,  but  is  entirely  absent  from 
the  equatorial  regions.  This  consists  of  sand  and 
clay,  mingled  with  fragments  of  rock,  angular  and 
rounded.  The  greater  and  lesser  boulders,  and  the 
solitary  erratic  blocks — some  of  immense  size — 
scattered  throughout  the  regions,  with  the  marks  of 
glacial  and  other  abrasion,  furnish  the  abundant 
proofs  upon  which  your  geologists  rely.  These 
deluges  were  the  results  of  great  convulsions.  The 
first  occurred  in  the  north  of  Europe,  and  was 
caused  by  the  upheaval  of  the  mountains  of  Nor- 


AN  HOUR  WITH  AN   ANTEDILUVIAN.  87 

way.  The  second  was  caused  by  the  rising  of  the 
Alps,  and  inundated  the  valleys  of  Germany^ Italy, 
and  France.  A  great  destruction  of  organic  life 
ensued,  but  the  devastation  was  nothing  to  what 
followed :  there  came  a  reign  of  snow  and  ice,  the 
cause  of  which,  even  up  to  the  present  age  of  science 
and  reason,  almost  completely  baffles  conjecture  and 
investigation,  but  which  seems  to  have  denuded 
Europe,  and  probably  all  the  corresponding  belt  of 
the  world,  with  the  region  north  to  the  pole,  equally 
of  vegetable  and  animal  life.  The  Asiatic  deluge, 
which  occurred  a  long  time  after  the  appearance  of 
man,  and  of  which  you  have  somewhat  fictitious 
accounts  in  your  so-called  sacred  histories,  and 
which  is  now  generally  acknowledged  to  have  been 
local  instead  of  universal  in  its  scope,  was  occasioned 
by  the  upheaval  of  a  part  of  the  long  chain  of 
mountains  which  diverges  from  the  Caucasus. 
Mount  Ararat ' 

"  Upon  which  the  ark  rested  ?" 

"Upon  which  the  ark  rested!  What  are  you 
giving  me,  young  man  ?  Mount  Ararat,  sir,  is  itself 
the  monument  of  this  convulsion  !" 

"  What  do  you  think,  or  know,  regarding  the 
fate,  or  end,  of  this  planet  upon  which  we  live  ?"  I 
then  inquired. 

"  I  know  nothing.  I  entertain  no  doubt,  how 
ever,  of  its  future  destruction,  or  of  its  return  to  a 
vast  puff  of  vapor,  or  something  or  other  of  the 
kind.  Camille  Flammarion,  tlie  well-known  French 
scientist,  thus  beautifully  expresses  himself  in  La 
Correspondance  Scientifique,  regarding  the  ultimate 
fate  of  our  globe:  '  The  earth  was  born;  she  will 
die.  She  will  die  either  of  old  age,  when  her  vital 
elements  shall  have  been  used  up,  or  through  the 
extinction  of  the  sun,  to  whose  rays  her  life  is  sus- 


88  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES, 

pended.  She  might  also  die  by  accident,  through 
collision  with  some  celestial  body  meeting  her  on 
her  route ;  but  this  end  of  the  world  is  the  most 
improbable  of  all.  She  may,  I  repeat,  die  a  nat 
ural  death,  through  the  slow  absorption  of  her  vital 
elements.  In  fact,  it  is  probable  that  the  air  and 
water  are  diminishing.  The  ocean,  like  the  atmos 
phere,  appears  to  have  been  formerly  much  more 
considerable  than  it  is  in  our  day.  The  terrestrial 
crust  is  penetrated  by  waters  which  combine  chem 
ically  with  the  rocks.  It  is  almost  certain  that  the 
temperature  of  the  interior  of  the  globe  reaches 
that  of  boiling  water  at  a  depth  of  six  miles,  and 
prevents  the  water  from  descending  any  lower ;  but 
the  absorption  will  continue  with  the  cooling  of  the 
globe.  The  oxygen,  nitrogen  and  carbonic  acid 
which  compose  our  atmosphere  also  appear  to  un 
dergo  absorption,  but  slower.  The  thinker  may 
foresee,  through  the  mist  of  ages  to  come,  the  epoch, 
yet  afar  off,  in  which  the  earth,  deprived  of  the 
atmospheric  aqueous  vapor  which  protects  her  from 
the  glacial  cold  of  space  by  preserving  the  solar  rays 
around  her,  will  become  chilled  in  the  sleep  of 
death.  As  a  writer  says:  'From  the  summit  of 
the  mountains  a  winding  sheet  of  snow  will  de 
scend  upon  the  high  plateaus  and  the  valleys,  driving 
before  it  life  and  civilization,  and  masking  forever 
the  cities  and  nations  that  it  meets  on  its  passage. 
Life  and  human  activity  will  press  insensibly  to 
ward  the  inter-tropical  zone.  St.  Petersburg,  Berlin, 
London,  Paris,  Vienna,  Constantinople  and  Rome, 
will  fall  asleep  in  succession  under  their  eternal 
shroud.  During  very  many  ages  equatorial  human 
ity  will  undertake  Arctic  expeditions  to  find  again 
under  the  ice  the  place  of  Paris,  Lyons,  Bordeaux 
and  Marseilles.  The  sea  coasts  will  have  changed, 


AN   HOUR   WITH   AN   ANTEDILUVIAN.  89 

and  the  geographical  map  of  the  earth  will  have 
been  transformed.  No  one  will  live  and  breathe 
any  more  except  in  the  equatorial  zone  up  to  the 
day  when  the  last  family,  nearly  dead  with  cold 
and  hunger,  will  sit  on  the  shores  of  the  last  sea, 
in  the  rays  of  the  sun,  which  will  hereafter  shine 
here  below  on  an  ambulent  tomb  revolving  ^  aim 
lessly  around  a  useless  light  and  a  barren  heat.' " 

"  Astronomers  tell  us  that  there  will  be  great  falls 
of  rain  and  snow ;  and  sudden  changes  of  weather  ; 
and  tornadoes ;  and  earthquakes ;  and  all  sorts  of 
disasters  by  sea  and  by  land,  in  1881." 

"  They  tell  you  correctly.  There  will  be  catas 
trophes  without  number.  I  tell  you,  sir,  that  if 
you  live  through  the  year  1881  you  will  see  or  hear 
of  earthquakes  that  will  lay  low  hundreds  of  towns 
and  villages,  and  destroy  thousands  of  lives.  This 
orb  of  ours  had  a  very  lively  time,  my  friend,  about 
five  thousand  years  ago,  and  if  it  pulls  through 
1881  it  is  good  for  another  five  thousand,  and  don't 
you  forget  what  I  say." 

The  old  gentleman  at  this  juncture  indulged  in 
a  lengthy  pause,  as  if  he  had  concluded,  and  I  was 
about  to  go  for  him  on  earthquake  theories,  when 
he  continued  : 

"  With  but  thirty  miles  of  precarious  crust  be 
tween  you  and  the  internal  fires,  the  approach  to 
which  is  attested  by  a  uniform  increase  of  temper 
ature  of  a  degree  for  every  sixty  feet  you  pene 
trate;  with  the  atmospheric  and  volcanic  changes 
which  are  continually  working  their  recondite  re 
sults — with  the  progress " 

"  Here  he  is  ! "  "  Here  he  is  ! "  shouted  a  couple 
of  men ;  and  simultaneously  they  rushed  up  to 
where  we  were  sitting,  and  secured  my  companion. 

I  was  amazed  at  this  strange  performance,  and 
asked,  "  What  are  you  doing — what  do  you  want  ?" 


90  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

"  We  want  this  runaway  lunatic ! "  said  one  of 
them. 

"  He  escaped  from  the  asylum  yesterday,"  added 
the  other. 

And  they  hand-cuffed  him,  and  took  him  back 
to  Stockton. 


A  MIDNIGHT  ADVENTURE  IN  NEVADA. 


For  a  long  time  "  Baldy  Greene  "  was  the  favor 
ite  stage-driver  upon  the  overland  route  between 
Virginia  City  and  Austin,  Nevada.  This  remark 
able  specimen  of  a  modern  Jehu  was  a  thoroughbred 
in  every  particular.  He  was  called  Baldy  on  ac 
count  of  his  caput,  which  was  singularly  bare,  and 
he  rejoiced  in  the  name.  He  once  drove  Ben  Hol- 
laday  from  Virginia  City  to  Austin,  185  miles,  in 
nineteen  hours.  He  let  himself  out  some  seventeen 
or  eighteen  years  ago  upon  Mr.  Colfax  and  party, 
and  upon  one  occasion  drove  them  forty -five  miles 
in  three  hours  and  a  half.  As  a  judge  of  the 
ambrosial  decoction  known  .as  punch,  Baldy  was  a 
success. 

The  son  of  Nimshi  never  found  himself  in  greater 
ecstacies  of  glory  than  has  Baldy  upon  a  fine  spring 
morning,  with  his  six-horse  team  of  grays,  and  a 
gang  of  good  fellows  to  draw,  and  a  start  from  Vir 
ginia  City  promptly  on  time. 

I  was  one  of  nine  persons  who  took  passage  with 
Baldy  Greene,  in  the  month  of  May,  1867,  from 
Virginia  City  to  Austin.  We  arrived  at  a  place 
called  Big  Ned's,  seventy -five  miles  from  Virginia, 
about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  almost  an  hour 
and  a  half  ahead  of  time.  I  shall  never  forget 
Big  Ned — poor  fellow !  he's  dead  now ;  his  own 
benzine  was  too  much  for  him.  Big  Ned  was  post- 


92  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

master,  sheriff,  restaurant-keeper,  Indian  trader,  real 
estate  dealer,  lawyer,  and  justice  of  the  peace. 

We  arrived  just  in  time  to  see  him  officiate  in 
his  capacity  of  justice  of  the  peace.  Ah  Ching 
and  Hong  Sam,  two  young  Celestials,  were  to  be 
married  in  "  Melican "  style.  Baldy  Greene  was 
invited  to  act  as  master  of  the  ceremonies,  a  posi 
tion  which  he  at  once  cordially  accepted.  The 
intention  of  the  almond-eyed  groom  was  to  have 
been  married  upon  the  Saturday  following;  but 
Baldy  advised  him  that  the  certificate  was  only 
good  for  one  day,  and,  as  it  cost  "fifteen  clolla," 
Ah  Ching  thought  it  best  to  go  on  with  the  cere 
mony.  I  may  add  that  the  purchase  of  the  certifi 
cate  was  owing  to  the  fact  that  "  John "  was  not 
posted  in  the  "  Melican  "  custom,  and  had  employed 
counsel  to  get  it  for  him.  A  couple  of  Shoshone 
Indians  stood  up  with  the  Celestials,  to  impart  ad 
ditional  mock  solemnity  to  the  ceremony.  Big  Ned, 
immediately  after  titilating  his  thorax  with  a  glass 
of  torch-light-procession  whisky,  said,  addressing 
himself  to  the  groom :  "  Wilt  thou  take  this  woman 

to  be  thy  wedded  wife,  and  to "  Yes ;  me 

take-ee  him,  me  keep-ee  him,  me —  "Well, 

take-ee  him,  and  be  gone  I "  roared  Big  Ned,  in  the 
very  agony  of  indignation.  John  was  then  per 
suaded  that  all  those  who  officiated  in  the  ceremony 
should  kiss  the  bride,  during  which  he  remarked : 
"Melican  man  no  good;  him  too  much-ee  good 
look-ee."  The  ceremony  concluded  with  "chop 
sticks,"  rice,  and  "  China  blandy." 

I  have  stated  that  Big  Ned  was  sheriff.  He  at 
that  time  had  two  prisoners  in  charge.  Glancing 
about  the  premises,  and  discovering  no  proper 
place  of  incarceration,  and  learning  that  the  afore 
said  sheriff  made  it  a  rule  of  his  daily  routine 


A  MIDNIGHT  ADVENTURE  IN   NEVADA.          93 

never  to  go  to  bed  sober,  I  asked  him  what  he  did 
with  his  prisoners  at  night.  "  Oh."  he  replied,  "  I 
just  give  them  a  couple  of  drinks  each  of  my 
whisky,  and  they  can't  get  away." 

An  hour  before  sunset,  crack  went  the  whip  and 
away  we  rolled  across  the  akali  plains,  and  up  into 
a  deep  canon.  The  splendor  of  a  mountain  sunset 
in  the  very  wilds  of  Nevada,  says  some  delightful 
writer,  is  almost  without  comparison.  The  linger 
ing  sun  floods  all  the  west  with  fire,  and  hangs 
with  golden  fringe  each  passing  cloud,  and  sheds  a 
scarlet  hue  on  all  the  varied  outlines  of  mountain, 
hill,  and  butte.  The  gathering  twilight,  spreading 
her  veil  over  the  desert  below,  shuts  from  view  all 
minor  objects,  and  long  before  the  expiring  day  is 
gone,  one  can  only  trace  in  the  east  the  dark  forms 
of  its  mountain  outlines,  and  the  darker  gorges  of 
the  canons  beneath.  Then  follows  the  magnifi 
cence  of  a  moonlight  night  in  these  corrugated  hills 
and  mountains,  the  effect  of  light  and  shade  upon 
a  clear,  cloudless  evening  being  incomparably  beau 
tiful.  On  the  crests  of  the  mountains,  thousands 
of  feet  in  the  air,  the  dark  tops  of  whose  trees 
seem  tangled  in  a  braid  of  light,  rolls  a  silver  flood, 
while  below  all  is  inky  night.  At  the  bottom  of 
the  deep  canons  the  gurgling  stream  meanders  its 
rocky  bed  'twixt  mingled  light  and  shade.  The 
spectacle  in  the  woods,  where  from  tree  to  tree 
run  girandoles  of  icicles — sparkling  gems  of  win 
ter's  casket — beggars  description.  Their  branches 
look  like  the  arms  of  a  constellated  luster,  and  by 
moonlight  transmit  a  wilderness  of  dancing  colors 
from  the  faucets  of  their  prisms.  Every  shadow 
seems  sentient,  reaching  out  as  if  with  instinct  to 
touch  the  margin  of  the  moonlight's  silver  line. 
There  is  something  impressive  in  the  silence  of  the 


94  OCCIDENTAL   SKETCHES. 

night.  All  nature  sinks  to  rest — the  moon,  ma 
donna  of  her  sweet  repose,  sails  off  the  coast  of 
night,  and  all  is  still  save  when  the  wood,  'swayed 
by  the  timid  breeze,  seems  whispering  back  in 
plaintive  answer  to  the  bubbling  stream. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  beautiful  sunset  upon  this 
particular  evening.  In  the  dim  distance  were  the 
grand  old  Sierra  Nevada  mountains,  lifting  their 
imperishable  snow-capped  heads  to  the  kissing 
heavens,  which  were  brilliantly  beaming  through  dis 
solving  clusters  of  kaleidoscopic  clouds.  The  great 
orb  was  just  dipping  behind  their  summits,  upon 
which  the  glittering  objects  of  ice  and  snow  seemed 
like  silver  fantoccini.  The  thin,  gauzy  clouds  as 
sumed  the  most  exquisite  changes  of  shapes  and 
colors.  First  they  looked  like  a  vast  arc  of  liquid 
fire,  and  then  broke  into  ragged  and  fantastic  trans 
formations  with  thrice  the  colors  of  the  rainbow. 
The  slanting  rays  of  the  great  planet  streaked  every 
thing  with  the  glitter  of  gold;  fragmentary  sections 
of  fleecy  clouds  darted  off  in  a  thousand  infinitesi 
mal  directions,  diffused  with  misty  blue,  and  purple- 
edged,  and  floated  off  into  the  thin  darkness  which 
was  spreading  its  network  of  night.  The  picture 
below  was  not  without  its  effect.  Seemingly  at  the 
base  of  the  detached  ranges,  and  dotting  the  land 
scape  wherever  the  eye  might  wander,  were  the 
sinks  of  the  Carson  and  the  Humboldt,  looking  like 
miniature  lakes  of  burnished  silver  as  they  twinkled 
in  the  rays  of  the  parting  sun. 

I  have  often  been  struck  with  the  strange  and 
unexpected  characters  to  be  met  with  while  travel 
ing  over  these  long  stage  routes  upon  the  Pacific 
Coast.  At  a  well-known  station,  called  Big  Mea 
dows,  at  which  place  we  arrived  about  ten  o'clock, 
I  encountered  one  of  the  pleasantest  adventures  of 


A  MIDNIGHT  ADVENTURE   IN   NEVADA.          95 

my  life.  Anxious  to  stretch  my  legs,  and  enjoy  a 
near  approach  to  a  sparkling  fire  which  sent  its 
light  through  the  chinks  of  the  cabin,  inviting  the 
weary  traveler  to  its  comforting  influence,  I  entered 
the  premises  and  seated  myself  upon  a  stool  near 
the  hearth.  Glancing  at  the  interior,  I  discovered 
a  table  near,  covered  well  with  books.  Opening 
one,  I  found  Caesar's  Commentaries.  Surprised  to 
find  such  a  book  in  such  a  place,  so  far  removed 
from  academic  shades,  I  hastily  turned  to  the  fly 
leaf,  and  found  there,  in  a  neat  running  hand,  the 
name  of  the  owner.  Looking  further  at  the  collec 
tion,  I  discovered  the  works  of  the  immortal  Shak- 
speare,  the  Life  of  Franklin,  Milton's  Paradise  Lost, 
and  a  copy  of  Tom  Moore ;  and  last,  but  first  in 
importance,  a  Bible !  It  at  once  occurred  to  me 
that  these  books  had  been  left  by  some  weary 
pilgrim  desirous  of  lessening  his  burdens  in  his 
Occidental  wanderings;  and  I  was  beginning  to 
speculate  upon  his  history,  when  the  hostler,  who 
was  quite  a  youth,  entered  and  announced  that  the 
stage  was  nearly  ready.  Kesolved  upon  the  pene 
tration  of  this  delightful  mystery — this  treasure  in 
the  wilds  of  the  great  interior  desert — I  asked  the 
young  man  who  was  the  owner  of  the  books.  He 
modestly  said  "They  belong  to  me;"  and  in  reply 
to  my  rapid  questions,  he  informed  me  that  he  was 
a  graduate  of  a  college  in  Indiana ;  that,  seeking 
his  fortune,  he  had  come  to  the  far  West,  met  dis 
appointment,  as  thousands  had  before  him;  and  that, 
nothing  better  offering^  and  determined  to  earn  his 
own  living  and  to  keep  his  misfortunes  from  the 
ears  of  his  parents,  he  had  accepted  the  humble 
place  of  hostler  to  the  stage  line.  He  was  cheerful, 
hopeful;  and  the  keen  glance  of  his  gray  eyes,  the 
eloquent  compression  of  his  finely  chiseled  lips,  gave 


96  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

all  the  assurance  that  success  with  him  was  only  a 
matter  of  time. 

What  a  charming  lesson  for  the  curled  darlings 
of  languishing  ease,  raised  and  existing  in  luxury 
and  idleness,  without  a  thought  beyond  the  glitter 
ing  fashions  and  follies  of  the  day.  Here  was 
manhood,  stern  courage,  calm  determination  to  con 
quer  fate  and  a  destiny — a  future  full  of  moment 
to  society,  and  of  renown  for  its  possessor.  It  will 
not  surprise  me  to  meet  this  boy  hereafter  in  an 
exalted  position.  Of  such  stern  stuff  are  most  of 
our  great  men  made ;  and  from  such  humble  posi 
tions  have  risen  many  of  the  noted  men  of  the 
Pacific  Coast. 

But  to  the  adventure  of  the  night :  As  I  have 
remarked  above,  there  were  nine  of  us  ;  seven  in 
side,  and  two  with  the  driver.  Upon  the  front  seat 
was  a  Frenchman,  named  Lamoreux,  and  Ashley, 
Ex-Member  of  Congress  from  Nevada.  On  the  mid 
dle  seat  were  two  army  officers  and  a  German. 
The  back  seat  was  occupied  by  myself  and  a  man 
named  Siebler,  one  of  the  discoverers  of  the  Bel- 
mont  mines,  the  largest  of  which  had  just  been  sold 
to  a  New  York  company  for  a  million  of  dollars, 
Horace  H.  Day  and  others  having  been  the  purchas 
ers.  Like  Comstock,  who  once  owned  the  great 
lode  which  perpetuates  his  name,  and  which  has 
yielded  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars,  Siebler, 
was  a  poor  prospector,  and  parted  with  his  share  of 
the  claim  for  less  than  a  song.  The  discoveiy  of 
this  section,  ninety  miles  from  Austin,  was  made  by 
four  men — Siebler,  Billman,  Straight  and 'Smith — 
in  October,  1865.  Immediately,  the  four  persons 
named  above  located  their  claims,  according  to  law, 
and  subsequently  took  possession  of  what  is  now 
known  as  the  Highbridge  lode.  Shortly  after, 


A  MIDNIGHT  ADVENTUKE  IN  NEVADA.          97 

Siebler  sold  out  his  claim  to  his  companions  for 
$200  in  currency  ;  and  in  a  few  months  thereafter, 
Smith,  Billman  and  Straight  sold  out  their  entire 
interest  to  the  Combination  Company  for  $40,000. 
Prior  to  this  transfer,  Straight,  who  was  the  deputy 
recorder  at  the  time,  attempted  to  defraud  his  com 
panions  and  get  the  whole  interest  into  his  own 
hands.  He  therefore  destroyed  the  records  estab 
lishing  the  true  ownership,  and  in  some  other  book 
recorded  the  claim  as  belonging  entirely  to  himself. 
Tke  forgery  was  so  apparent  that  Straight  was  im 
mediately  arrested  and  taken  to  Austin.  Here,  he 
confessed  the  deed  he  had  committed,  and  was 
allowed  to  escape  the  law,  and  subsequently  re 
ceived  $10,000  as  his  share  of  the  pay.  Mortified 
at  the  discovery  of  the  base  attempt  on  his  part  to 
commit  a  stupendous  swindle,  Straight  shortly 
afterward  departed  for  the  East,  and  has  not  since 
been  heard  of.  Smith  and  Billman  also  went  East 
to  spend  their  money.  Siebler,  who  sold  out  for 
$200,  snored  soundly  by  my  side.  Once  he  essayed 
a  song,  and  might  have  kept  up  his  dismal  serenade, 
possibly  for  some  minutes,  had  I  not  hit  upon  the 
novel  method  of  falling  heavily  against  him  at  the 
first  chuck-hole,  which  jammed  all  of  his  infernal 
melody  out  of  him,  and  closed  him  up  for  several 
hours. 

W hile  half  a  dozen  desperate  highwaymen,  each 
armed  with  a  couple  of  six-shooters,  and  completely 
masked,  were  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  stage  at  a 
proposed  place  of  action,  the  majority  of  the  party 
inside  were  journeying  in  dreamland.  I  dreamed 
I  was  comfortably  at  home,  until  the  exclamations, 
"  Halt ! "  "  Stop  that  stage  !"  "  Throw  out  those 
express  boxes !"  caught  my  ears,  and  I  then  well 
knew  that,  instead  of  being  in  San  Francisco,  I 


98  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

was  out  on  one  of  the  great  deserts  of  Nevada,  and 
at  the  mercy  of  the  knights  of  the  road. 

We  were  all  awake  in  an  instant.  We  knew  the 
cause  of  alarm ;  we  knew  we  were  in  the  hands  of 
the  "  road  agents" — some  of  us  had  been  there  be 
fore. 

"  Driver  ! "  ejaculated  the  robber-in-chief,  a  tall, 
well-masked  fellow,  "  mind  you,  take  good  care  of 
that  team,  and  don't  move  an  inch  until  I  give  you 
orders." 

"  All  right,"  said  Baldy ;  and,  addressing  himself 
to  his  off  leader — "  ^e-have  yourself,  Clara ;  fre-have 
yourself;  tut,  tut,  tut.  Clara!  he-have  yourself; 
these  gentlemen  won't  hurt  you,  darling — (in  a  low 
voice) — but  they'll  make  it  uncomfortable  for  my 
passengers. 

"For  God's  sake,  can't  you  keep  those  horses 
quiet  ? "  roared  the  leader  of  the  gang ;  "  Now,  you 
man  up  there  with  the  driver,  throw  down  those 
express  boxes — and  be  very  lively  about  it,  too  !  " 

The  man  threw  down  the  express  boxes  as  if  he 
had  been  an  adept  in  the  business. 

"  No.  2  ! "  shouted  the  chief  to  one  of  his  accom 
plices,  "  you  watch  the  horses ;  No.  3,  go  round  to 
the  other  door ;  No.  4,  stand  here  with  me ;  Nos.  5 
and  6,  cover  the  rear.  Get  down  here,  you  two 
men  on  the  outside.  No.  2,  search  them  for  arms. 
Hold  up  your  hands,  gentlemen,  and  let  this  fellow 
see  if  you've  got  any  weapons  about  you.  We  will 
not  hurt  you ;  but  we  do  not  propose  to  take  any 
chance  of  getting  our  own  brains  blown  out  for  a 
few  paltry  twenty  dollar  pieces." 

A  few  seconds  covered  this  whole  performance,  so 
far.  The  rascals  surprised  us  round  a  curve,  and  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye  we  were  surrounded,  and  a 
dozen  six-shooters  were  leveled  at  our  heads.  The 


A  MIDNIGHT  ADVENTUEE   IN   NEVADA.          99 

outsiders  were  unarmed,  and  taken  to  the  rear  of 
the  stage,  and  placed  one  behind  the  other.  Then 
Ashley,  who  understood  the  situation  perfectly 
well,  was  ordered  out.  He  had  parted  with  his 
last  ducat  the  night  before  at  the  intellectual  game 
of  "  pitch  seven-up  "  and  was  a  picture  of  compos 
ure.  Then  the  poor  Frenchman,  who  hesitated  in 
his  movements,  was  jerked  out  and  placed  in  the 
rear  of  Ashley.  I  was  the  last  passenger  called  for. 
I  was  searched  for  arms,  and  taken  to  the  rear,  and 
placed  behind  Siebler. 

The  moon  looked  down  upon  a  party  of  nine 
gentlemen,  with  their  hands  up  in  the  air,  covered 
well  by  cocked  revolvers,  and  willing  to  go  peace 
ably  home. 

"Now,  gentlemen,  I'll  relieve  you  of  your  loose 
change,"'  urbanely  remarked  the  captain  of  the 
crowd  ;  and  down  went  his  delicate  hand  into  my 
breeches-pocket ;  and  up  came  seven  twenty-dollar 
gold  pieces.  He  went  into  all  of  my  other  pockets, 
and  examined  me  closely  to  see  if  I  wore  a  belt. 
He  also  amused  himself  by  taking  my  watch  and 
chain ;  and  then  passed  to  Siebler,  whom  he  de 
nominated  a  poor  cuss,  adding,  "  Why,  you  haven't 
got  the  price  of  a  drink,  have  you  ?  Here,  I'll  lend 
you  two-and-a-half,  and  you  can  pay  it  back  to 
your  friend  in  the  rear."  Siebler  never  returned 
the  aforesaid  coin,  however. 

In  searching  the  two  army  officers,  several  hun 
dred  dollars  in  currency  was  captured.  Then  came 
the  Dutchman's  turn,  who,  upon  the  approach  of 
the  captain,  left  his  place  in  the  line  exclaiming, 
"  Vat  der  teufel  for  dis  peessiness  ?  I  don't  oondu- 
stand  dose  dings." 

"  Do  you  understand  that  ?  "  said  No.  4,  placing 
the  muzzle  of  his  pistol  near  the  ear  of  the  enraged 
Teuton,  and  snapping  a  cap. 


100  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

"  No  !  "  he  replied,  savagely  ;  "  mein  Gott  in  Him- 
mel,  I  don't  oondustand  dese  toings  ;  "  at  the  same 
time  knocking  the  pistol  aside  with  one  hand,  and 
quietly  tucking  a  handful  of  small  gold  into  his 
boot-leg. 

"  That's  played  out,  my  boy,"  said  No.  1,  who 
was  keenly  watching  the  operation ;  "  take  that 
bullion  out  of  your  boot,  or  I'll  leave  you  here  for 
the  crows." 

Rather  than  be  transformed  into  food  for  unclean 
birds,  Mr.  Francis  Steimle  transferred  the  deposit 
from  his  boot-leg  to  the  capacious  pocket  of  the 
captain. 

Mr.  Lamoreux,  the  Frenchman,  was  next  ran 
sacked,  and  relieved  of  over  $2,000,  which  he  car 
ried  in  a  belt,  in  $20  gold  pieces.  He  saved  more 
than  that  amount  in  greenbacks,  however,  by  cut 
ting  a  hole  in  his  pocket  with  his  penknife,  and 
letting  it  and  his  paper  money  fall  into  his  boot. 

Not  a  dime  was  realized  from  Mr.  Ashley,  not 
withstanding  the  most  careful  manipulation  of  that 
fentleman's  pockets.  His  funds  had  gone,  as  Jim 
'isk  would  have  happily  remarked,  "where  the 
woodbine  twineth." 

The  next  gentleman  saved  his  money  by  putting 
it  upon  his  hat,  while  Mr.  Simons,  the  person  who 
threw  out  the  Wells-Fargo  express  matter,  quietly 
dropped  a  wallet  containing  $1 0,000  in  currency  in 
to  the  front  boot  of  the  stage. 

The  robbers  then  searched  the  vehicle,  but  find 
ing  nothing  that  they  deemed  valuable,  the  captain 
shouted  "  Get  your  seats,  now,  and  be  off,  and  be 
particularly  careful  not  to  return  ! "  In  a  few  mo 
ments  we  were  "  all  set,"  to  use  a  stage  expression, 
and  our  journey  to  Austin  was  resumed. 

These  feats  of  highwaymanship  are  of  frequent 


A   MIDNIGHT  ADVENTURE   IN   NEVADA.        101 

occurrence  upon  the  Pacific  slope,  even  up  to  the 
present  time.  California,  Oregon,  Arizona  and  Ne 
vada  have  many  long  stage  routes,  over  which 
travel  some  of  the  richest  men  of  the  far  West. 
The  treasure  boxes  of  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.'s  express 
are  the  principal  incentive  of 'these  raids  of  banditti, 
however,  while  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
in  bars  of  gold  and  silver  are  transport  d  from  the 
mines  all  over  the  Pacific  States  and  Territories  in 
this  way. 

*  While  almost  every  traveler  goes  armed  in  these 
sections  of  sparsely  inhabited  country,  there  is 
hardly  an  exception  to  the  general  rule  of  yielding 
gracefully  to  the  demands  of  these  "  road  agents." 
They  always  manage  to  take  you  unawares,  and  as 
quick  as  thought,  almost,  you  find  yourself  sur 
rounded  by  half  a  dozen  desperadoes,  more  or  less, 
your  every  action  being  dictated  by  a  six-shooter 
in  close  proximity  to  your  head. 

During  the  White  Pine  excitement  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  were  forcibly  taken  from 
travelers  and  the  express  companies.  During  the 
past  twenty  years  stages  from  Salt  Lake  City  to 
Helena,  Montana,  have  been  successfully  robbed 
scores  of  times ;  so,  also,  has  the  stage  from  Placer- 
ville  and  Sacramento,  California,  to  Virginia  City, 
Nevada,  and  the  Washoe  silver  mines.  Fourteen 
years  ago  three  stages  were  robbed  within  four 
miles  of  Virginia  City  by  ten  masked  men,  nearly 
forty  passengers  being  relieved  of  their  valuables. 
The  Los  Angeles  and  San  Francisco  stage  was 
stopped  twelve  years  ago  by  four  highwaymen, 
only  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  former  town.  In 
this  case  the  robbers  were  afterward  captured,  and 
one  of  them,  turning  State's  evidence,  convicted  the 

other  three,  who  were  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for 


102  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

fifteen  years.  Charlie  Ames,  the  chief,  when  sen 
tence  was  passed  upon  him,  remarked  to  the  sheriff 
that  he  would  like  to  play  a  game  of  "  old  sledge" 
with  the  judge  (Hon.  A.  J.  King)  whether  he 
should  make  it  thirty  years  or  nothing. 


A  SUMMER  IN  ALASKA. 


One  morning  in  July,  1869,  I  met  Captain  Kohl 
(then  owner  of  the  steam  iron  yacht  Fideliter,  and 
now  a  member  of  the  Alaska  Fur  Seal  Co.,)  in  front 
of  the  Occidental  Hotel,  San  Francisco,  who  invited 
me  to  accompany  him  to  Alaska  from  Victoria ;  and, 
as  an  inducement,  informed  me  that  there  would  be 
a  good  party  along  and  ample  stores ;  naming,  as 
the  party,  Henry  Kinkead,  (whom  I,  as  Special 
Agent  of  the  Post-office  Department,  had  made  P. 
M.  of  Sitka,  and  who  is  now  Governor  of  Nevada); 
Col.  H.  B.  Reese,  Paymaster  U.  S.  A.,  (now  stationed 
in  St.  Paul,  Minnesota) ;  Col.  Neil  Dennison,  U.  S. 
A.,  (since  resigned,  married  and  settled  in  Ohio) ; 
a  splendid  specimen  of  a  fellow  named  Boscowitz, 
(a  Victoria  Jew) ;  Charles  Kinkead,  (since  drowned,) 
and  an  ex-Confederate  officer  whose  name  I  do  not 
call  to  mind,  making,  counting  Captain  Kohl  and 
myself,  eight  in  all. 

We  were  to  leave  Victoria  on  or  about  the  25th 
of  July ;  so,  on  the  9th  of  that  month,  I  embarked 
on  the  steamer  Oriflanvrne  at  San  Francisco,  and  in 
four  days  arrived  at  Portland,  Oregon.  We  ex 
perienced  severe  northerly  winds  during  the  entire 
trip,  which  rendered  the  voyage  anything  but  pleas 
ant  to  those  who  realize  no  poetry  of  emotion  in  a 
"Life  on  the  Ocean  Wave,"  and  who  would  prefer 
an  ottoman  at  home  to  being  "  Rocked  in  the  Cradle 
of  the  Deep." 


104  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

Leaving  Portland  on  the  15th  of  July,  I  took  a 
run  down  the  Columbia  river — the  scenery  of  which 
is  indescribably  grand — and  in  a  few  hours  arrived 
at  Monticello.  Here  I  engaged  the  hurricane  deck 
of  a  Digger  Indian's  mule,  arriving  at  a  queer  little 
place  called  Pumphrey's,  where  1  put  up  for  the 
night.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  16th,  after 
my  educated  animal  had  surfeited  himself  in  the 
exercise  of  "  bucking,"  I  started  for  Schoopenchuck 
river,  fifty  miles,  and  arrived  in  time  for  a  dinner  of 
bear  steaks  and  potato  salad,  served  up  in  an  ac 
ceptable  way  by  an  old  Pennsylvania  Dutchman, 
with  whom  I  took  up  quarters  for  the  night.  Be 
fore  retiring  I  had  quite  a  cosy  chat  with  my  Teu 
tonic  friend,  who,  among  other  things,  related  the 
fact  of  his  once  having  lost  $50,000  in  Philadelphia, 
by  indiscreet  speculation,  and  at  another  time  half 
that  sum  through  the  failure  of  a  rich  firm  in  Har- 
risburg. 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th  I  took  the  stage  for 
Olympia,  the  capital  of  Washington  Territory,  twen 
ty-five  miles  distant,  and  on  the  20th  I  left  the 
capital,  taking  the  steamer  Anderson  at  7  o'clock, 
and  arriving  at  Victoria  in  the  evening,  stopping  at 
Port  Townsend,  Port  Madison,  Steilacoom,  and 
Seattle,  the  last  named  of  which  will,  no  doubt,  be 
the  western  terminus  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Rail 
road,  which  is  to  connect  Lake  Superior  with 
Puget  Sound.  Victoria,  situated  at  the  extreme 
lower  end  of  Vancouver's  Island,  is  one  of  the 
prettiest  cities  upon  the  Pacific  coast,  and  has  a 
population  of  about  six  thousand  souls.  Its  palm 
iest  days  were  during  the  Carriboo  and  Frazer  river 
gold  excitements,  some  few  years  ago,  when  it  had 
nearly  thirty  thousand  inhabitants.  Victoria  is  the 
headquarters  upon  this  continent  of  the  Hudson's 


>P  THE  ^ 

UNIVERSITY  )) 

V.  "  Jl 

A  SUMMER  IN  ALASKA.  105 


Bay  Fur  Company,  at  which  place  said  company 
have  a  number  of  very  large  and  commodious  stores 
and  warehouses.  The  climate  of  Victoria  is  very 
much  like  that  of  New  England  in  its  general 
character,  and  has  four  well-defined  seasons.  Four 
miles  from  the  town  is  the  harbor  of  Esquimault, 
where  three  or  four  large  British  war-vessels  gen 
erally  lie  at  anchor.  For  a  long  time  this  was  the 
rendezvous  of  gangs  of  successful  smugglers,  who 
operated  between  this  point  and  Washington  Ter 
ritory.  Eighteen  miles  from  this  harbor,  which,  by 
Oie  way,  is  the  finest,  deepest,  and  safest  upon  the 
Pacific  coast,  except  San  Francisco  and  San  Diego, 
is  San  Juan  Island,  from  the  center  of  which  at  that 
time  might  be  seen  on  one  end  the  American  flag 
and  upon  the  other  end  the  ensign  of  the  British — 
both  Governments  peaceably  claiming  that  small 
patch  in  the  sea.  In  company  with  a  number  of 
gentlemen  I  visited  San  Juan,  and  was  handsomely 
entertained  by  both  Uncle  Sam's  and  Her  Majesty's 
officers. 

On  the  27th  of  July,  1869,  we  (the  party  above 
named)  left  Victoria  by  the  steam  yacht  Fidelitcr, 
Captain  Erksine,  and  arrived  at  Nanaimo,  a  coaling 
station  seventy  miles  up  George's  sound,  early  in 
the  evening.  There  are  large  deposits  of  very  fair 
coal  at  Nanairno.  We  left  this  town  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  28th,  long  before  daylight,  and  arrived  at 
Seymour's  Rapids,  160  miles  from  Victoria,  in  the 
afternoon.  This  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous  places 
of  navigation  between  Esquimault  and  Sitka,  it  be 
ing  impossible  for  either  sail  or  steam  vessel  to  stem 
the  current,  or  proceed  with  it,  (the  tide  making 
some  nine  or  ten  miles  an  hour),  except  at  its  mean. 
The  water  is  as  black  as  ink,  and  is  said  to  be  un 
fathomable.  The  mountains  upon  either  side  lift 


106  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

themselves  to  the  majestic  height  of  several  thous 
and  feet,  and  in  many  places  are  almost  precipitous 
from  the  water's  edge  to  their  tops.  There  is  every 
variety  of  mountain  scenery  to  be  met  with  upon 
either  side,  while  a  vessel  may  tie  up  with  safety 
anywhere  along  their  precipitous  sides.  Here  and 
there,  every  ten  or  twelve  miles,  are  little  indenta 
tions,  or  miniature  bays,  which  serve  as  fishing 
grounds  for  the  Indians,  who  have  several  settle 
ments  and  many  lodges  upon  the  sound. 

At  the  upper  end  of  Vancouver's  Island  is  a  prom 
inent  trading  post  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company, 
called  Fort  Rupert,  at  which  we  tied  up  our  steamer 
for  several  hours.  The  warehouses  and  dwellings 
were  substantial  looking,  and  built  of  logs,  and  in 
closed  by  a  stockade.  Near  by  is  an  Indian  settle 
ment  of  about  200  inhabitants.  Just  as  we  arrived 
these  creatures  were  at  the  height  of  the  festivities 
of  their  annual  twelve  days'  dance.  On  this  occa 
sion  their  chief,  who  is  a  sort  of  aboriginal  George 
Peabody,  was  bestowing  a  portion  of  his  great 
wealth  upon  the  poor  of  his  tribe.  Having  just 
parted  with  a  large  portion  of  the  accumulated 
wealth  of  years,  among  the  gifts  of  which  were  sev 
enty  canoes  and  nearly  200  blankets,  his  subjects 
were  in  the  act  of  testifying  their  appreciation  of 
his  virtues  in  song  and  dance.  There  were  seven 
men  at  this  post — all  Scotchmen — a  chief  clerk, 
storekeeper,  two  traders,  and  three  men  of  all  work. 
Some  good  brandy  first,  and  then  some  coffee,  and 
a  lunch  of  venison,  eggs,  and  roast  potatoes  were  of 
fered  us,  which  we  had  the  good  sense  to  accept, 
and  then  a  smoke  and  a  chat,  and  again  we  were  on 
our  journey. 

Eighteen  miles  from  Fort  Rupert  is  where  the  U. 
S.  steamer  Suivanee  had  been  wrecked  only  a  few 


A  SUMMER   IN   ALASKA.  107 

days  before.  The  officers  and  men  must  have  made 
a  hasty  exit,  as  a  large  number  of  Indians  were  en 
gaged  in  ransacking  the  ill-fated  vessel  when  we 
passed,  most  of  whom  had  their  canoes  loaded  with 
plunder.  A  few  miles  from  where  the  Suwanee 
was  wrecked  is  a  settlement  of  Nowsitti  Indians, 
numbering  a  hundred-odd  inhabitants,  who  are  noted 
for  their  industry  and  their  high  display  of  art. 
All  of  their  habitations  stand  on  elaborately  and  in 
many  cases  artistically  carved  posts,  while  all  of 
their  fences  and  articles  of  furniture  and  implements 
of  labor  are  carved  in  an  elaborate  and  ornamental 
manner.  The  Suwanee  was  wrecked  while  leaving 
this  village  for  Queen  Charlotte's  sound. 

Leaving  Fort  Rupert,  we  came  into  Queen  Char 
lotte's  sound,  where  we  not  only  got  a  glance  at  old 
ocean,  but  a  good  stiff  gale  and  a  tremendous  sea. 
The  waves  dashed  all  over  our  little  iron  yacht, 
carrying  away  one  of  our  life-boats  and  completely 
disarranging  things  in  our  cabin.  I  had  never  be 
fore  seen  the  Pacific  so  utterly  undeserving  in  its 
name.  The  waves  actually  rolled  mountain  high. 
We  were  alternately  balancing  upon  the  tip-top  of 
a  narrow-looking  wave  and  pitching  down  furi 
ously  into  a  great  hole  in  the  sea.  At  such  an  aw 
ful  juncture  the  most  insignificant  thing  in  the 
world  is  what  is  generally  admitted  to  be  God's 
noblest  and  greatest  work. 

After  being  tossed  about  many  hours,  we  crossed 
the  sound,  forty  miles  in  length,  and  entered  the 
peaceful  waters  of  Fitzhugh  channel.  A  run  of 
ninety  miles  and  we  arrived  off  Bella-Bella,  a  small 
trading  post  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  and  a 
settlement  of  some  forty  or  fifty  Indians.  The 
scenery  all  the  way  up  Fitzhugh  channel  is  inde 
scribably  picturesque  and  beautiful.  I  have  seen 


108  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

nothing  more  enchanting.  It  partakes  of  the  sub 
limity  of  the  highlands  of  the  Hudson  river,  the 
grandeur  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  mountains,  and  the 
exquisite  loveliness  of  the  Wissahickon  at  one  and 
the  same  time.  It  has  no  counterpart  except  in  the 
straits  of  Magellan,  which  may  be  pronounced 
Nature's  chef  d'oeuvre.  One  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
from  Bella-Bella  is  Fort  Simpson,  the  most  import 
ant  and  the  most  northern  trading  post  of  the  Hud 
son's  Bay  Company.  Here  we  stopped  for  twenty- 
four  hours.  The  company  had  ten  men  employed 
at  Simpson :  Mr.  Cunningham,  the  superintendent ; 
a  clerk,  four  traders,  and  four  men  of  all  work — all 
Scotchmen.  The  stores,  warehouses  and  dwellings 
at  Fort  Simpson  are  very  large  and  well  built.  Mr. 
Cunningham's  residence  is  the  best  made  and  most 
comfortably-appearing  log  house  I  have  ever  seen 
except  that  built  by  Governor  McCormick  at  Pres- 
cott,  Arizona.  There  are  also  large  flower  and 
vegetable  gardens  attached,  all  of  which  are  in 
closed  by  a  stockade.  In  the  neighborhood  are  two 
or  three  settlements  of  Indians,  numbering  six  or 
seven  hundred  inhabitants.  Here  we  found  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  steamer  Beaver,  under 
charter  of  Her  Majesty's  Coast  Survey  Commission, 
the  officers  of  which  were  being  entertained  by  Mr. 
Cunningham.  The  Beaver  has  the  reputation  of 
being  the  first  steam  vessel  ever  in  the  Pacific  ocean, 
having  been  built  in  England  and  launched  in  1835, 
and  at  once  sailed,  brig-rigged,  for  Fort  Vancouver. 
Cunningham  was  originally  a  missionary,  and  has 
lived  among  the  Indians  at  or  near  Fort  Simpson 
for  nineteen  years.  He  has  a  bright,  intelligent 
looking  squaw  for  a  wife,  and  four  children.  Mr. 
Cunningham  entertained  us  in  a  princely  manner. 
His  wines  and  brandies  were  old  and  nutty,  and  his 
cigars  were  of  the  very  best  brands  and  flavor. 


A   SUMMER   IN   ALASKA.  109 

Fifteen  miles  from  Simpson  is  the  Federal  Fort 
Tongas,  situated  on  Portland  inlet,  the  dividing 
water  between  British  America  and  our  own  terri 
tory,  the  latter  constituting  the  most  southern  por 
tion  of  Alaska.  At  Tongas  was  stationed  a  com 
pany  of  troops,  who  had  already  had  several  quar 
rels  with  the  Indians.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
have  never  had  a  soldier  at  one  of  their  posts,  and 
up  to  a  very  late  date  have  had  no  trouble  with  the 
Indians.  Mr.  Cunningham  said  he  had  had  con 
siderable  difficulty  with  some  of  the  Indians  since 
the  erection  of  Fort  Tongas,  on  account  of  their 
procuring  liquor  from  the  United  States  troops. 
From  Fort  Tongas  to  Fort  Wrangel  it  is  seventy 
miles.  Wrangel  was  also  garrisoned  by  a  company 
of  troops,  who  had  had  serious  difficulties  with  the 
Indians  upon  several  occasions.  It  is  situated  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Stickeen  river,  and  is  265  miles 
from  Sitka,  at  which  place  we  arrived  on  the  7th  of 
August.  The  last  300  miles,  and  especially  that 
portion  of  the  trip  through  the  Duke  of  Clarence, 
Chatham,  and  Peril  straits,  was  like  floating  through 
a  fairy  archipelago.  The  narrow  waters  had  wid 
ened  out  into  lake-like  proportions,  and  were  dot 
ted  all  over  with  little  clusters  of  rocks  and  gems  of 
islands.  Upon  one  occasion  a  most  gorgeous  sunset 
lie  reflected  upon  the  placid  surface  of  this  net- work 
of  waters,  carrying  one  back  to  the  happy  days  of 
"  Peter  Wilkins  and  the  Flying  Islanders,"  as  played 
at  the  Boston  Museum  thirty  years  ago. 

Sitka  is  charmingly  situated  on  Baranoff  island, 
and  has  a  fine  harbor.  The  climate,  were  it  not  for 
the  rain,  would  be  a  'great  deal  more  attractive 
than  the  climate  anywhere  east.  There  are  but 
two  seasons — summer  and  winter.  The  summer  is 
warm,  but  never  hot.  In  June,  July,  and  August 


110  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

the  days  are  nineteen,  twenty,  and  twenty-one 
hours  long ;  and,  really,  there  is  no  night.  Mrs. 
Jeff.  C.  Davis  informed  me  that  at  no  time  during 
a  summer  night  was  it  necessary  to  have  an  arti 
ficial  light  to  read  by.  In  the  winter  this  is  re 
versed;  and  during  some  of  the  weeks  in  January 
the  bright  streaks  of  daylight  are  few.  The  mer 
cury  averages  forty  during  the  cold  season  at  Sitka, 
and  seldom  goes  to  zero.  A  few  miles  from  Sitka, 
into  the  interior,  and  the  tourist  may  find  winter 
everlasting.  Most  of  the  houses  are  constructed  of 
logs.  The  former  residence  of  the  Prince  was  oc 
cupied  by  General  Jeff.  C.  Davis,  and  was  as  com 
plete  as  any  establishment  in  Washington.  One  of 
the  parlors  is  180  feet  long  by  70  wide,  and  is  elab 
orately  furnished  and  handsomely  hung  with  paint 
ings  and  engravings.  In  one  corner,  there  is  an  or 
gan  with  a  capacity  for  thirty  pieces  of  dancing 
music,  including  quadrilles,  les  fanciers,  and  two  or 
more  waltzes,  polkas,  and  redowas.  The  most  at 
tractive  object  of  interest  in  Sitka  is  the  Greek 
church,  which  is  one  of  the  prettiest  edifices  of  the 
kind  I  have  ever  seen.  Its  chime  of  bells  is  the 
finest  upon  the  Pacific  coast,  if  not,  indeed,  in  Amer 
ica,  the  bells  being  made  almost  entirely  of  silver. 
I  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  a  wedding 
ceremony  in  Greek,  the  mode  of  solemnization  put 
ting  me  more  in  mind  of  the  marriage  of  Fritz  and 
Wanda,  in  the  "  Grande  Duchesse,"  than  anything 
else. 

All  of  the  Russians,  of  whom  there  are  a  few  left 
in  Sitka,  the  Kodiakers  and  the  Aleuts,  and  all  of 
the  Indians,  in  fact,  except  those  of  the  mainland, 
worship  in  the  Greek  Church,  and  are  controlled  by 
its  laws  and  regulations.  Their  Christmas  lasts 
thirteen  days,  during  which  time  the  nights  are  de- 


A  SUMMEK  IN  ALASKA.  Ill 

voted  to  masquerading.  After  a  fine  entertainment 
and  ball  given  us  by  General  Jeff.  C.  Davis,  at 
which  were  present  a  large  number  of  officers  and 
their  ladies,  we  bade  adieu  to  Sitka,  and  on  the 
llth  of  August  started  for  Nutchuck,  or  Fort  Con 
stitution,  on  Prince  William  sound,  450  miles  away, 
at  which  place  we  arrived  on  the  14th. 

We  staid  all  night  at  Nutchuck.  This  island 
contains  270  Kodiakers — a  high  order  of  Indians, 
or  a  low  order  of  Aleuts — divided  into  eight  tribes, 
each  tribe  having  a  chief,  who  brought  out  his 
people  and  introduced  them  one  by  one,  (reminding 
me  of  committees  calling  upon  the  President,)  to 
each  of  whom  we  gave  a  stick  of  candy  or  a  cigar, 
either  of  which  is  considered  a  gift  of  munificence, 
and  for  which  we  received  the  well-known  old 
God-bless-you,  so  often  and  so  liberally  bestowed 
by  the  Italian  mendicants  and  the  curbstone  mer 
chants  of  New  York. 

To  this  point  the  Copper  River  Indians  come  to 
trade.  These  Indians  are  the  bravest  and  most  ath 
letic  savages  in  Alaska,  and  have  always  made 
successful  war  upon  any  and  all  Indians  who  have 
had  the  temerity  to  penetrate  their  country,  and 
are  only  at  peace  with  the  tribes  at  Nutchuck. 

On  the  14th  we  left  Nutchuck  for  Lower  Kany, 
210  miles.  Owing  to  a  strong  head  wind  and  never 
ceasing  fog,  (and  that  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  climate 
in  this  section  of  the  northern  waters — that  dense 
fogs  prevail  during  the  prevalence  of  very  strong 
winds,)  we  did  not  arrive  at  Lower  Kany  until  the 
evening  of  the  17th.  This  point  of  land  is  the  most 
southern  extremity  of  Cook's  inlet,  and  is  known 
as  the  place  where  the  Russians  expended  half  a 
million  of  dollars  in  developing  coal  mines,  which 
proved  a  failure,  as  the  coal  contained  less  than  ten 


112  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

per  cent,  of  steam,  and  would  exhaust  itself  as  fast 
as  it  could  be  put  under  a  boiler.  At  this  point 
was  wrecked,  a  short  time  before,  a  Government 
transport,  with  a  company  of  troops  on  board  and 
a  year's  supply  of  clothing  and  provisions.  A  large 
amount  of  lumber  and  a  number  of  wagons  and  a 
lot  of  mules  were  also  lost.  The  troops  were  saved 
by  a  trading  vessel  which  happened  to  be  cruising 
off  that  point,  and  taken  to  Kodiac.  From  Lower 
Kany  to  Upper  Kany  it  is  80  miles.  We  left  the 
former  place  upon  the  morning  of  the  18th,  and  ar 
rived  at  the  latter  point  at  3  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
making  the  run  in  seven  hours. 

Upper  Kany  is  the  most  northern  post  on  the 
waters  of  the  Pacific,  and  is  the  coldest  place  in 
winter  and  the  warmest  during  summer.  The  In 
dians  here  are  honest  and  generous  people,  and, 
with  a  few  vegetables  they  raise ;  salmon,  which 
here  are  very  fine;  and  game,  which  abounds  on  the 
main  land  of  Alaska ;  deer,  reindeer,  grouse,  and 
many  other  smaller  animals,  the  people  manage  to 
live  exceedingly  well.  It  is  at  this  point  that  a 
number  of  old  miners  and  explorers  had  been  mak 
ing  a  great  effort  to  find  precious  metals,  but  only 
very  small  specimens  of  gold,  iron,  and  lead  had 
been  discovered.  From  Upper  Kany  to  Kodiac,  at 
which  place  we  arrived  on  the  20th  of  August,  and 
the  most  northern  and  largest  of  the  Aleutian 
islands,  it  is  about  200  miles. 

Kodiac  is  the  only  island,  except  the  small  ones 
contiguous  to  it,  (Woody  and  Af'gnock  islands), 
which  has  any  timber  or  growth  of  wood  whatever. 
All  the  others,  from  Kodiac  to  the  Siberian  coast, 
are  entirely  destitute  of  any  vegetation,  except 
grass  and  such  small  gardens  of  potatoes  and  tur 
nips  as  the  natives  plant.  Woody  island,  about  two 


A   SUMMER   IN   ALASKA.  113 

miles  from  Kodiac,  or  St.  Paul  harbor,  as  the  town 
or  settlement  is  called,  used  to  furnish  most  of  the 
ice  for  the  Pacific  coast.  The  ice  company  of  San 
Francisco,  at  the  transfer  of  Alaska  to  the  United 
States,  purchased  the  ice  houses  and  other  "buildings, 
and  all  the  paraphernalia  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
ice  business,  pre-empted  Wood's  island  by  building 
a  fence  around  it,  and  also  all  the  ice  ponds  upon 
Afgnock  island  adjoining.  Formerly  the  Russians 
collected  the  ice  and  sold  it  to  the  ice  company  at 
so  much  per  ton  delivered  on  board  their  vessels. 
The  Russians  never  allowed  outside  parties  to  have 
any  control  of  their  people;  or,  in  other  words,  they 
owned  and  controlled  every  interest  in  the  country. 
The  codfish  are  so  abundant  at  Kodiac  that  every 
day  in  the  year  they  are  caught,  which  is  the  case 
in  no  other  part  of  the  world.  The  natives  go  fish 
ing  every  morning  for  the  day's  supply  as  regularly 
as  a  farmer  goes  to  his  pork  or  beef  barrel.  At 
Kodiac  there  were  two  companies  of  troops,  the 
company  which  was  wrecked  at  Kany  and  the  com 
pany  intended  to  be  stationed  thereon,  all  under 
the  command  of  Colonel  Tidball.  The  troops,  the 
ice  company,  and  the  numerous  traders  and  army 
followers,  which  had  centered  here,  made  it  quite  a 
lively  place.  The  weather  is  about  the  same  as  at 
Sitka,  although  at  times  in  the  summer  the  sun 
shines  very  hot,  and  not  unfrequently  the  natives 
could  be  seen  carrying  umbrellas  to  protect  them 
from  the  excessive  heat. 

Going  south  from  Kodiac  the  first  harbor  is  Unga. 
On  the  lower  end  of  the  island  of  Unga,  the  largest 
of  the  Schoomagin  group,  are  the  great  codfish  banks 
of  Alaska.  I  counted  as  many  as  thirty  vessels  at 
anchor  and  their  crews  fishing  over  the  guards  for 
codfish,  no  trouble  being  experienced  in  obtaining  a 


114  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

schooner  full  in  a  very  few  days.  While  we  were 
here  one  vessel  took  180,000  cod  in  six  days.  The 
weather  is  so  damp,  however,  that  the  fish  are  salted 
and  taken  to  California  to  be  dried.  Unga,  which 
is  300  miles  from  Kodiac,  has  about  150  Aleuts, 
who  have  made  themselves  comfortable  by  hunting 
sea  otter.  Their  houses  are  adobe,  and  generally 
dirty  at  this  place.  There  is  quite  a  handsome 
church  here,  under  the  charge  of  a  native  Aleut, 
who  reads  the  Greek  service  Sundays  and  holy  days. 
Here  we  obtained  a  good  supply  of  hens'  eggs  and 
as  many  gulls'  eggs  as  we  wished.  The  number 
of  gulls  on  the  rocks  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor 
is  astonishing,  and  beyond  all  calculation.  The  eggs 
taste  good  to  those  who  have  a  happy  imagination 
or  who  are  very  hungry.  The  water  is  considered 
the  best  in  the  country,  retaining  its  freshness  a 
long  time  at  sea.  At  the  upper  end  of  this  island 
the  Russians  made  another  failure  in  their  attempt 
to  develop  the  coal  interests.  Although  the  coal  is 
of  a  better  quality  than  at  Kany,  the  quantity 
would  not  justify  an  attempt  to  get  a  supply.  Just 
north  of  the  Schoomagin  island  is  the  island  of 
Okarmook,  the  penal  reservation  of  the  country 
under  the  Russians.  Aleuts,  Indians,  and  cross 
breeds  were  sent  there  for  punishment.  Some  forty 
were  left  there  by  the  Russians,  and  existed  by 
killing  rats  or  a  species  of  ground  squirrel,  the  skin 
of  which  they  manufactured  into  garments,  which 
were  exchanged  for  the  necessaries  of  life  by 
traders.  These  garments  were  in  turn  sold  to  the 
Indians  of  the  main  land  and  colder  regions. 

Mount  St.  Elias,  said  to  be  16,000  feet  in  height, 
may  be  seen  in  all  its  magnificent  proportions  from 
the  Schoomagin  islands,  and  also  Mount  Chiginag- 
ark,  with  an  altitude  of  17,000  feet.  Upon  a  clear 


A   SUMMER   IN   ALASKA.  115 

morning  may  be  observed  columns  of  blue  smoke 
issuing  from  the  tops  of  these  mountains,  which 
may  be  seen  plainly  two  hundred  miles  away,  so 
clear  and  ultra-marine  is  the  atmosphere. 

The  Indians  hereabouts  are  great  tea-drinkers. 
Their  mode  of  sweetening  the  beverage  is  to  place 
the  sugar  on  the  tongue  and  suck  the  drink  through 
their  teeth.  On  special  occasions  they  drink  beer 
manufactured  from  roots  and  brown  sugar.  Their 
meats  and  vegetables  are  cooked  in  whale  or  seal 
oil,  the  latter  constituting  the  butter  for  their  bread. 
In  conversation  with  them  you  address  the  chief, 
who,  in  turn,  addresses  his  tribe,  who  alike  signify 
their  agreeableness  or  disapprobation  by  a  grunt. 

From  Unga  to  Ounalaska  it  is  300  miles,  entering 
the  Behring  sea  through  Acutan  Pass,  the  harbor 
being  on  Behring  sea  side,  and  is  considered  the 
best  in  Alaska,  and  has  for  a  long  time  been  visited 
by  the  Arctic  whalers,  as  a  watering  place.  The 
settlement,  situated  on  a  peninsula  between  a  beauti 
ful  mountain  stream  and  the  ocean,  which  is  nearly 
of  horse-shoe  shape,  has  a  decidedly  romantic  ap 
pearance.  Here  the  natives'  houses  are  adobes,  but 
are  clean,  and  have  an  air  of  comfort  not  to  be 
found  at  any  other  place.  As  at  Unga  and  all  of 
the  Aleutian  Islands,  the  people  live  by  hunting 
sea  otter,  the  islands  furnishing  no  other  fur  except 
a  few  inferior  foxes.  Horned  cattle  and  sheep 
thrive  on  these  islands,  the  priest  at  Ounalaska  be 
ing  the  proprietor  of  about  twelve  head  of  cattle,  as 
fat  and  as  sleek  as  any  I  ever  saw  in  Southern 
California.  There  is  a  cave  near  the  village,  where 
we  found  skulls  of  enormous  size  in  a  perfect  state 
of  preservation,  with  teeth  in  both  jaws.  The  skulls 
were  very  thick  and  strong,  having  no  apparent 
thin  spot,  but  a  solid  bone ;  even  the  nose  was  bone, 


116  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

showing  that  the  place  had  been  inhabited  by  a  dif 
ferent  and  larger  race  than  that  of  the  present  day. 
The  canoes  or  boats  called  bidarkars,  are  all  made  of 
the  skin  of  seal,  are  very  light,  and  from  twelve  to 
twenty -five  feet  long,  and  from  eighteen  to  thirty 
inches  wide,  coming  to  a  point  at  both  ends,  with 
from  one  to  three  hatches  or  holes,  into  which  the 
native  sticks  his  legs  and  sits  on  the  bottom,  and 
with  his  water-proof  garment,  made  from  the  mem 
brane  of  the  seal,  which  is  very  light,  weighing  less 
than  two  ounces,  completely  covering  him,  except 
his  face  and  hands,  and  tied  around  the  top  of  the 
hatch,  he  goes  through  waves  and  surf,  and  sits  in 
the  rain  all  day,  and  comes  out  dry.  From  six  to 
seventy-five  of  these  bidarkers,  manned  with  three 
men  each,  form  a  sea  otter  hunting  party ;  these 
parties,  made  up  from  the  most  able-bodied  of  the 
males,  start  out  in  the  spring  with  provisions,  etc., 
for  a  three  months'  hunt.  When  a  party  is  ready 
to  start,  the  priest,  if  any,  if  not,  the  person  who 
can  read  church  service,  and  acting  as  priest,  goes 
down  to  the  water,  blesses  it  and  sprinkles  each 
hunter  with  it  by  dipping  a  brush  into  the  ocean, 
and  shaking  it  over  him.  The  people  subsequently 
join  in  prayer ;  then  a  collation,  such  as  they  can 
afford,  is  served,  then  dancing  and  kissing  takes 
place,  and  amid  the  vociferations  of  joy  and  grief 
the  party  get  off  for  their  three  months'  hunt.  All 
of  the  other  labor  is  performed  by  the  women,  as  in 
other  Indian  countries. 

From  Ounalaska  to  the  Seal  islands,  800  miles 
from  Kodiac,  and  where  we  arrived  on  the  27th,  it  is 
some  235  miles.  These  small  islands,  known  as  the 
Pribolor  group,  hundreds  of  miles  from  any  other 
land,  and  almost  always  enveloped  in  a  dense  fog, 
are  the  favorite  resort  of  the  fur  seal.  Having  been 


A   SUMMEK   IN   ALASKA.  117 

driven  by  the  ruthless  hunter  from  all  other  islands 
in  the  known  world,  they  have  sought  refuge  here, 
and  have  found  protection  first  from  the  Russian 
Government,  and  subsequently  from  our  own. 

Long  before  reaching  the  islands,  and  sometimes 
hours  before  seeing  them,  one  gets  the  stench  and 
hears  the  fearful  roaring  of  millions  of  these  pon 
derous  and  clumsy,  yet  sagacious  animals. 

St.  Paul,  the  principal  and  most  important  of 
these  islands,  is  small  and  irregular-shaped,  and 
about  sixteen  miles  long  and  five  miles  wide, 
running  lengthwise  nearly  east  and  west.  The 
seals  haul  up  only  on  the  southern  side,  and  at 
difficult  points,  where  the  shore  is  bold  and  rocky. 
And,  although  they  sometimes  haul  up  in  millions, 
they  never  occupy  more  than  forty  or  fifty  acres  of 
land.  The  peculiar  habits  of  this  animal  were 
most  minutely  and  admirably  described  by  Cap 
tain  Charles  Bryant  in  a  report  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  some  years  ago.  Captain  Bryant 
spent  most  of  the  summer  of  1869  on  St.  Paul 
island,  and,  according  to  his  instructions,  devoted 
his  entire  time  to  the  study  of  the  seal. 

The  seals  have  inhabited  these  islands,  and  have 
been  captured  for  their  furs  by  the  Russian  Fur 
Company  for  seventy  years  ;  at  one  time  by  their 
eagerness  they  nearly  exterminated  them,  but  by 
careful  management  for  the  last  thirty  years  of 
their  operations  they  secured  annually  a  large 
number  without  detriment  to  the  supply.  These 
animals  have  come  regularly  for  a  great  many 
years.  One  old  fellow,  peculiarly  marked,  has 
been  known  to  locate  on  the  same  rock  for  twenty 
years.  About  the  1st  of  May  a  reconnoitering 
party,  consisting  of  a  few  old  males,  may  be 
seen  examining  the  shore ;  if  all  is  right  they 


118  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

disappear  for  a  few   days,   and  then   return,   ac 
companied    by   a    few    hundreds    of    full  -  grown 
animals ;  these  at  once  haul  up  on  the  rocks  and 
locate  for  the  season.     The  full-grown  animals  con 
tinue  to  arrive  until  hundreds  of  thousands  can  be 
seen,  and  are  followed  by  the  four  and  five-year  old 
males,  who   are   more  active,  and  spend  much  of 
their  time  in  the  water.     This  size  is  followed  by 
the  younger  males,  one,  two,  and  three  years  old, 
which  come  on  land  and  are  guarded  over  by  the 
old  males,  who  never  fail  to  give  warning  on  the 
approach  of  danger,  at  which  the  young  splash  into 
the  sea.     The  full-grown  seal  weighs  about  half  a 
ton,  and  from  that  size,  graduated  down  to  the  two- 
y«ear  old,  which  averages  about  150  or  200  pounds. 
About  the  first  of  June  the  females  arrive ;  these 
immediately  go  on  land  and  have  their  young,  and 
are  seized  upon  by  the  old  males,  who  huddle  them 
together  as  fast  as  secured,  some  old  fellows,  Mor 
mon-like,  having  as  many  as  hundreds  of  wives. 
The  mothers  nurse  their  young  every  two  or  three 
days,  until  just  before  their  departure  for  the  winter, 
when  they  coax  them  into  the  water  and  teach  them 
to   swim.     The   mode   of   driving   or   getting   the 
animals  up  from  the  beach,  and  separating  the  two 
and  three-year  old  (or  desirable  size  for  their  furs) 
from  the  others,  is  the  most  frightful  and  animated 
scene  I  have  ever  witnessed.  A  half  a  dozen  or  more 
natives,  each  armed  with  a  seven-foot  club,  go  to 
the  leeward,  crawl  along  the  water's  edge  between 
the  water  and  the  seal,  until  they  have  cut  off  as 
many  as  they  can  drive,  then  raise  up,  and  in  the 
same  manner  as  urging  forward  hogs,  drive  and  fall 
back,  and  dodge  about,  knocking  down  by  a  skill 
ful  blow,  which   stuns  but  does  not  injure  perma 
nently,  the  old  bulls,  until  the  little  ones  are  away 


A   SUMMER   IN   ALASKA.  119 

from  the  rookeries,  when  one  man  and  a  boy  or  two 
can  drive  thousands.     They  are  driven  very  slowly, 
from  a  half  to  two  miles  an  hour,  to  the  salt  houses, 
where  they  are  allowed  to  rest  and  cool  off  before 
being  killed,  which  is  done  by  huddling  together 
fifty  or  a  hundred  and  running  around  them  until 
their  hind  nippers  are  tangled  together,  so  they  can 
not  spring  at  the  man  when  he  reaches  over  and 
knocks  the  desirable  ones  on  the  nose  a  very  slight 
blow ;  if  on  the  end  of  the  nose,  killing  the  animal 
instantly.     Usually,  about  one-fifth  of  the  number 
driven  up  are  killed  and  the  balance  allowed  to  re 
turn  to  the  water.     The  skins  are  then  taken  off 
and   salted ;   the  women  and  children  cut  the  fat 
from   the   carcass,  and  throw  it  into  vats  for  the 
future  manufacture  of  oil.     If  the  seals  are  too  fre 
quently  driven  from  the  same  rookery,  they  become 
alarmed  and  hunt  for  a  more  quiet  resting-place. 
Conflicting  interests  upon  these  few  acres  would 
keep  them  constantly  agitated,  and  soon  frighten 
them  from  the  islands  and  from  our  waters.     The 
natives  are  more  jealous  of  the  manner  of  killing 
than   of   the  number  killed.     These   people   were 
born  on  the  islands,  and  but  few  of  them  have  been 
beyond  their  limits  and  consider  the  islands  their 
homes,  and  sealing,  which  they  alone  understand, 
as  their  lawful  business.     The  animal  leaves  in  the 
fall,  the  female  and  pups  going  first ;  then  the  two 
and  three-year  old,  then  the  four  and  five-year  old, 
and  last,  the  old  bulls  who  have  been  from  three  to 
five  months  on  land,  without  eating  anything  what 
ever  during  that  time ;  in  fact,  it  is  not  known  that 
any  of  the  seals  eat  during  their  stay  in  these  wa 
ters.     I  have  seen  thousands  of  stomachs  opened, 
and  have  been  unable  to  discover  any  appearance 
of  food  except  a  glutinous  substance.     Some  seven 


120  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

miles  from  the  Seal  islands,  is  a  very  small  island 
where  walrus  or  sea  elephant  haul  up  from  the  sea ; 
they  are  not  numerous,  however,  and  have  not  been 
disturbed  for  many  years,  except  occasionally,  one 
or  two  by  adventurers.  We  killed  two,  and  in  each 
of  their  stomachs  found  at  least  two  bushels  of 
clams.  These  animals  have  been  found  along  the 
coast,  on  the  main  land,  at  and  near  Bristol  bay, 
where  they  are  killed  for  their  tusks  and  oil. 

From  St.  Paul  island  to  Norton  sound  is  about 
eight  hundred  miles.  St.  Michael's  station  is  on  the 
main  land ;  here  it  is  very  cold  and  dreary  at  all 
times,  and  nearly  all  daytime  during  the  summer, 
and  continual  night  through  the  winter.  The  na 
tives  at  St.  Michael's  are  Esquimaux  Indians,  using 
dogs  and  reindeer  to  draw  their  sledges,  and  dress 
mostly  in  furs.  From  this  point  we  passed  up  through 
Behring  straits,  and  could  plainly  see  the  Asiatic 
coast.  The  highest  point  we  reached  was  Kotzebue's 
sound,  where  we  found  nothing  of  interest;  the 
country  is  almost  a  dead  level,  and  has  a  marshy 
appearance  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  From 
here  we  proceeded  along  down  the  coast  to  Bristol 
bay  and  Naschaka  river,  where  the  salmon  are  con 
sidered  to  be  the  best  in  the  world,  but  not  as  abund 
ant  as  at  many  other  places  in  and  about  Cook's  in 
let.  At  Bristol  bay  the  natives  are  very  ingenious, 
carving  from  walrus  ivory  the  most  beautiful  de 
scriptions  of  cups,  spoons,  rules,  rings,  images, 
thimbles,  and  various  toys.  From  here  we  pro 
ceeded  again  to  Ounalaska,  met  with  a  hearty  wel 
come  from  the  natives,  got  provisions  and  a  supply 
of  fresh  water,  and  sailed  for  San  Francisco,  the 
whole  excursion  lasting  about  three  months.  We 
met  General  Thomas  and  staff  at  Kodiac  on  our  re 
turn,  and  Mr.  Seward  and  party  at  Sitka. 


A   SUMMER   IN   ALASKA.  121 

During  this  trip  I  took  great  pains  to  inquire — of 
remaining  Russian  officials,  and  others  "  native  and 
to  the  manner  born" — into  the  nature  of  the  fur 
seal;  and  discovered,  beyond  all  doubts,  that  a 
check,  such  as  is  placed  upon  its  capture  by  a  com 
pany,  bound  by  Governmental  stipulations  such  as 
is  the  Alaska  Fur  Seal  Company,  is  the  only  safe 
guard  against  its  utter  extermination  or  permanent 
flight.  As  it  is,  there  is  no  diminution  of  the  ani 
mals;  the  market  is  perfectly  supplied,  and  our  Gov 
ernment  receives  a  handsome  revenue  annually 
from  an  agency  that  honorably  pursues  its  work 
according  to  the  terms  and  conditions  of  its  con 
tract  and  agreement. 


THREE  EXTINCT  CITIZENS. 


The  murders,  homicides,  robberies,  feats  of  high- 
waymanship,  etc.,  etc.,  which  took  place  in  Grass 
Valley  during  its  early  history,  would  form  an  ap 
propriate  sequel  to  "  Claude  Duval."  Probably  the 
most  tragic  affair  that  ever  occurred  in  that  section 
was  the  battle  in  a  mine,  which  took  place  on  the 
27th  of  June,  1867,  and  which  resulted  in  the  death 
of  several  men  killed  and  a  large  number  wounded. 

The  first  murder  that  took  place  in  the  township 
occurred  in  January,  1851,  in  which  a  notoriously 
bad  man,  named  Jack  Allen,  was  hurried  to  his  last 
account  while  engaged  in  the  pastime  of  an  attempt 
to  break  up  a  ball.  He  was  so  quietly  made  to  shuffle 
off  the  coil  spoken  of  by  the  great  poet,  that  his  as 
sassin  was  never  discovered.  Probably  no  person 
ever  "  passed  in  his  checks"  so  speedily,  while  it  was 
the  "first  man"  Grass  Valley  people  had  ever  "had 
for  breakfast."  A  certain  physician,  however,  who, 
upon  examining  the  deceased  declared  that  he 
ought  to  have  been  killed  years  before,  came  near 
being  perforated  with  bullets  at  the  hands  of  the 
friends  of  Allen,  who  had  put  in  an  ugly  appear 
ance  a  few  moments  after  the  spirit  of  said  ruffian 
had  gone  to  that  undiscovered  gulch  from  whose 
bourne  no  dead  miner  ever  returns. 

Feats  of  high  way  manship  have  been  numerous  in 
the  vicinity  of  Grass  Valley  and  Nevada  City,  many 


THEEE  EXTINCT  CITIZENS.  123 

of  which  have  been  more  or  less  tragic,  or  other 
wise.  The  story  I  am  about  to  relate,  however, 
constitutes  one  of  the  most  thrilling  of  this  class  of 
California  sketches : 

George  Shanks,  alias  Jack  Williams,  the  leader ; 
Bob  Finn,  alias  David  Caton,  and  George  W.  Moore, 
had  met  in  Myer's  Ravine,  about  six  miles  from  Ne 
vada  City  and  ten  from  Grass  Valley,  to  arrange 
for  the  robbery  of  the  stage  from  North  San  Juan 
to  the  former  place.  Shanks  was  an  old  stage  rob 
ber,  and  had  served  out  part  of  a  term  in  the  peni 
tentiary  at  San  Quentin  for  stage  robbery  near 
Sacramento.  He  was  from  New  York  city,  and 
was  once  a  pressman  on  the  Tribune  and  a  member 
of  21  engine.  He  was  generally  looked  upon  as  a 
suspicious  character,  and  had  often  bragged  that  his 
mother  had  said  that  he  would  die  with  his  boots  on. 

Bob  Finn  was  in  early  times  a  messenger  in  the 
bank  of  Page,  Bacon  &  Co.,  of  San  Francisco.  Sub 
sequently  he  turned  up  as  a  miner  in  the  new 
Eureka  shaft,  and  at  a  late  day  had  fallen  in  with 
Shanks,  the  leader  of  the  three. 

Moore,  the  youngest  of  the  gang,  came  to  Cali 
fornia  from  Nashville,  Tenn.,  having  been  formerly 
a  clerk  at  the  St.  Cloud  hotel,  in  that  city.  He  was 
born  in  Boston,  and  has  relatives  living  there,  who 
know  of  his  sad  fate.  He  had  only  been  in  Cali 
fornia  a  short  time,  and  was  without  work,  money, 
and  friends.  It  was  just  at  this  time  that  he  was 
persuaded  by  Shanks  and  Finn  to  join  them  in 
making  a  "  raise"  by  robbing  the  North  San  Juan 
stage,  which  generally  carried  to  Nevada  City  sev 
eral  thousand  dollars  in  coin  and  dust.  Penniless 
and  in  want,  young  Moore  easily  fell  a  victim,  and 
essayed,  for  the  first  and  last  time,  the  character  of 
a  knight  of  the  road. 


124  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

The  night  of  May  14th,  1866,  had  nearly  passed, 
and  the  stage  was  due  at  Nevada  City  at  half  past 
five  o'clock  the  next  morning.  The  three  highway 
men  had  lodged  within  a  half  mile  of  the  stage 
road,  and  within  five  miles  of  Nevada  City,  each 
taking  his  turn  on  guard  two  hours  at  a  time. 

Shanks  was  on  guard  at  three,  and  expected  the 
stage  in  an  hour  or  an  hour  and  a  half.  There  was 
a  superb  full  moon,  and  the  desperado  looked 
around  him  as  if  to  commune  with  Nature.  He 
was  standing  at  the  very  mouth  of  Myer's  Ravine, 
at  its  debouchre  into  the  Yuba.  Titanic  walls  are 
all  around — second  only  to  Yosemite's  imposing 
architecture  in  majesty  and  sublimity.  Prodigious 
halves  of  colossal  boulders  stand  like  grim  sentinels 
on  either  hand.  Desolate  hillsides  loom  up  in  the 
distance,  bathed  in  floods  of  Diana's  delicious  light. 
The  morning  zephyrs  chime  ^Eolian  minstrelsy 
through  the  whispering  pines,  and  the  babbling 
brook  meanders  its  pebbly  bed  in  melodious  ca 
dences.  The  beacon  light  of  Aurora  shimmers  upon 
a  majestic  cliff  upon  the  mountain  divide,  where  the 
Star  of  Empire  might  rest  in  becoming  grandeur 
after  its  triumphant  course  through  its  orbit  from 
the  orient  to  the  Occident. 

At  half  past  three  Finn  and  Moore  were  sum 
moned  ;  at  four  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  May  the 
15th,  1866,  the  three  highwaymen  were  on  the  Ne 
vada  City  and  North  San  Juan  road,  and  were  soon 
under  cover  of  a  steep  hill  on  the  south  side  of  the 
South  Yuba,  above  what  is  called  Black's  Crossing. 
And  there  they  crouched,  like  three  black  crows,  in 
the  moonlight ;  each  man  wearing  a  black  cap,  and 
a  suit  of  clothes  of  the  same  color. 

"  It's  coming  ! "  gasped  young  Moore,  almost  chok 
ing  as  he  uttered  the  words. 


THREE    EXTINCT   CITIZENS.  125 

"  So's  your  grandmother,  chicken-liver  ! "  cried 
Shanks ;  "you  don't  pan  out  worth  a  cent,  my  little 
girl-baby !  If  you  don't  like  the  game,  you'd  better 
git ;  you'd  peter  out  robbing  a  dead  man.  Imitate 
the  example  of  my  Christian  co-laborer,  Robert 
Finn.  He's  a  gentleman  and  a  scholar — you  chance 
your  bottom  quarter ;  he'll  go  to  the  bed  rock  every 
time — aye,  Bob  ? " 

"  You  bet  your  life,  old  man,"  responded  Bob, 
with  a  yawn. 

"But  we  won't  chafe  each  other,  Mr.  Moore," 
said  the  leader.  "  We  have  not  come  here  to  take 
each  other's  scalps.  The  noise  you  hear  is  under 
the  left  side  of  your  waistcoat,  however.  But,  never 
mind  that ;  let's  understand  our  business,  now,  for 
the  last  time." 

"  All  right,"  cried  both  of  the  others ;  "  go  on." 

"Examine  your  six-shooters,  once  more,  and 
see  that  the  caps  are  all  on  well,"  said  Shanks. 
"Now,  listen!"  he  continued:  "Don't  let  your 
cowardly  fingers  fool  with  the  trigger,  as  there's 
no  need  of  harming  any  one. — They'll  all  crawl 
out  and  behave  like  lambs,  if  we  do  our  part  of  the 
job  in  a  neat,  gentlemanly  way." 

"  Jack,  old  boy,"  chipped  in  Bob,  jocosely,  "  let 
up  on  that  word  gentlemanly — it's  too  thin — like 
the  cuticle  of  Georgie  Moore.  Georgie  Moore  will — ," 

"Now,  gentlemen,  let  us  behave  as  such,  and 
have  no  quarreling.  Moore  is  all  right — he's  as 
bold  as  a  lion,"  interrupted  Shanks. 

"Yes,  a  dead  one;"  murmured  the  facetious 
David. 

"Shut  up,  now,  and  listen — there  !  doggone  my 
buttons,  boys,  I  swear  I  heard  the  crack  of  Sam 
Cooper's  lash.  Quick,  now,  listen  !  I  am  Citizen  1, 
said  Shanks ;  "  Robert,  you  are  .Citizen  2,  and 


126  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

George,  you  are  Citizen  3.  No  names  are  to  be 
called,  and  no  man  utters  a  word  but  myself.  I'll 
jump  up  first  and  catch  the  leaders ;  Citizen  2,  you 
will  catch  hold  of  the  wheel-horse  with  one  hand 
and  cover  the  driver  with  one  of  your  six-shooters  ; 
and  Citizen  3,  you  will  rush  up  to  the  door  of  the 
stage,  upon  this  side  of  the  road,  and  cover  the 
passengers  with  both  weapons  and  I'll  shout  'Don't  a 
mother's  son  of  you  stir,  on  your  peril.'  That's  all ; 
now  down  !  I  can  hear  the  horses'  hoofs." 

In  a  moment  the  fine  gray  team  of  Sam  Cooper 
had  reached  the  summit,  and  almost  instantly  the 
three  highwaymen  were  at  their  respective  posts. 
It  was  just  half -past  four  o'clock. 

"  Put  on  your  brake  and  throw  off  the  express 
box ! "  shouted  Shanks,  in  unmistakable  tones. 

On  went  the  brake,  and  off  went  the  coin  chest 
of  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  containing  $7,900  in  gold. 

Shanks  then  ordered  the  driver  to  dismount  and 
take  out  his  horses  and  throw  the  harness  into  one 
heap,  and  "  Citizen  2  "  to  cover  him  the  while.  He 
then  proceeded  to  the  door  of  the  coach  covered  by 
"  Citizen  3  "  and  took  out  the  passengers — seven  in 
all — and  first  searched  them  for  weapons,  and  stood 
them  in  a  row  with  their  hands  held  up  in  the  air, 
saying  to  Moore : 

"  We  don't  want  to  harm  any  of  these  gentlemen 
(there  were  no  ladies)  ;  but,  Citizen  3,  if  any  one 
of  them  makes  a  motion,  blow  his  brains  out ! " 

After  the  search  for  weapons,  the  leader  went 
through  the  party  and*  relieved  the  passengers  of 
their  money  and  other  valuables ;  amounting,  in  all, 
however,  to  less  than  a  thousand  dollars  and  three 
gold  watches. 

Shanks  then  turned  a  lot  of  powder  into  the  safe, 
and,  upon  the  second  attempt,  blew  it  into  pieces. 
Then  he  shouted  to  Finn : 


THREE   EXTINCT   CITIZENS.  127 

"  Citizen  2  !  Tell  the  driver  to  hitch  up  again, 
and  you  come  this  way." 

Finn  carried  out  his  instructions  promptly  and 
carefully,  covering  Cooper  with  his  revolver  as  he 
moved  toward  Shanks,  backwards.  Then  Shanks 
hallooed  to  Moore,  who  had  performed  his  part 
with  more  than  average  tact. 

"  Citizen  3 !  Dismiss  those  gentlemen  and  tell 
them  to  get  into  the  stage;  and  then  you  follow  us." 

Moore  repeated  the  order  and  moved  backwards 
a  few  hundred  yards,  covering  his  movement  with 
his  pistols. 

The  highwaymen  hastened  from  the  scene,  and 
were  soon  out  of  sight.  The  passengers  assisted 
the  driver  in  getting  his  team  in  order,  and  soon  the 
coach  was  rolling  over  the  road  towards  the  first 
town  at  a  twelve  mile  rate." 

The  stage  arrived  at  the  door  of  the  National 
Exchange  Hotel,  kept  by  Lancaster  &;  Hasey,  Ne 
vada  City,  at  six  o'clock  precisely.  Although  it 
was  early  morn,  the  news  of  the  daring  robbery 
spread  like  wildfire  throughout  the  town,  and  the 
greatest  excitement  imaginable  prevailed. 

In  an  hour  after  the  arrival  of  the  stage,  the 
Sheriff  of  the  county  (R.  B.  Gentry)  had  rallied  a 
posse,  composed  of  James  H.  Lee,  Albert  Gentry,  A. 
W.  Potter  and  Steve  Venard,  all  of  whom  had  been 
residents  of  either  Nevada  or  Grass  Valley  for 
several  years.  Steve  Venard,  the  hero  of  the  oc 
casion,  is  a  man  nearly  six  feet  in  height,  broad 
shouldered,  a  dead  shot  with  a  rifle,  and  a  man  of 
unparelleled  bravery  and  intrepidity.  It  was  un 
derstood  that  the  expedition  could  hardly  fail  with 
Steve  Venard  as  one  of  its  members.  At  eight 
o'clock  the  party  had  arrived  at  the  scene  of  the 
robbery.  The  two  Gentrys  and  Potter  went  into 


128  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

the  woods  together  below  the  crossing  of  the  stream, 
and  Lee  and  Venard  went  down  the  road  on  a  line 
parallel  with  the  river.  The  two  latter  got  on  the 
trail  of  the  robbers,  as  their  path  into  the  depths  of 
the  wilderness  could  be  plainly  seen.  Venard  was 
in  the  advance.  For  about  a  mile,  although  the 
road  was  indescribably  rough  and  at  places  almost 
impassable,  they  managed  to  urge  their  animals 
forward.  At  last  they  could  get  no  further  except 
on  foot ;  so  Venard  directed  Lee  to  go  back  with 
the  horses  and  hitch  them  in  some  safe  place,  and 
to  return  as  soon  as  possible. 

Venard  now  followed  the  trail  alone,  cautiously, 
with  his  trusty  Henry  rifle  in  a  business  position. 
He  soon  arrived  at  Myer's  Ravine,  and  discovered 
slight  evidences  of  a  fresh  camp.  He  looked  care 
fully  about  him,  but  could  see  no  human  being. 
He  halted  a  moment  and  listened  anxiously,  but  all 
was  silent  as  the  grave.  He  went  up  the  ravine  to 
a  crossing,  and  in  half  an  hour  found  himself  in  one 
of  Nature's  ruggedest  spots.  He  could  hardly  pro 
ceed  on  account  of  the  profusion  of  rocks,  trees, 
logs,  ferns,  and  brush,  while  over  the  perpendicular 
walls  of  granite,  which  had  almost  entirely  shut 
out  the  orb  of  day,  the  waters  of  the  Yuba  came 
down  in  ceaseless  cataracts. 

In  the  midst  of  this  jungle  he  came  to  a  place 
where  the  stream  forked  and  then  came  together, 
forming  a  sort  of  an  island  within,  through  the 
center  of  which  there  were  two  tiers  of  boulders 
two  or  three  hundred  feet  in  height.  A  natural 
avenue  passed  between  these  tiers  of  rocks,  at  the 
head  of  which  an  immense  slab  of  granite,  hun 
dreds  of  feet  in  length,  about  twenty  feet  in  height, 
and  seemingly  a  barrier  to  further  progress,  and 
looking  as  though  it  might  have  been  hurled  there 
during  some  brick-bat  war  of  the  Titans,  interposed. 


THREE   EXTINCT   CITIZENS.  129 

Venard  leaned  up  against  the  mossy  slab  and 
muttered,  "  Well,  this  is  the  end  of  the  trail,  or  I'm 
off  the  track.  Hark,  Steve  !"  he  said  ;  "  I  hear  the 
chatter  of  thieves  and  the  clink  of  coin." 

He  was  near  the  eastern  end  of  the  slab,  and  the 
sounds  came  from  that  direction.  He  crept  along 
so  as  to  steal  a  glance  around  the  corner  of  the 
boulder.  There  sat  the  three  robbers,  and  instantly 
the  eyes  of  Venard  and  Shanks  met.  The  latter 
reached  for  his  revolver,  sprung  to  his  feet,  and 
was  in  the  act  of  firing  when  Steve  sent  a  bullet 
whizzing  through  his  heart.  One  of  the  other 
robbers  ran  behind  a  rock  near  by  and  the  other 
fled  up  a  small  canon  tangled  with  underbrush. 
Venard  maintained  his  position,  and  presently  saw 
a  pistol  pointed  toward  him  from  over  the  top  of 
the  rock,  at  the  base  of  which  lay  the  dead  body  of 
the  leader.  He  covered  the  muzzle  of  the  pistol 
with  his  unerring  Henry,  and  presently  the  head  of 
Bob  Finn  slowly  came  up.  The  exposure  was  fatal, 
for  in  a  moment  a  bullet  pierced  his  brain.  Then 
Venard  clambered  up  through  the  tangle  of  the 
canon,  and  sixty  yards  ahead  saw  young  Moore 
struggling  up  the  difficult  acclivity.  He  took  a 
deadly  aim  and  fired,  the  robber  reeling  up  against 
a  tree.  Another  discharge,  and  the  third  highway 
man  fell  dead. 

Venard  now  sought  his  companions,  who  had 
heard  the  firing,  and  met  them  where  Lee  had  left 
him.  He  was  almost  speechless  with  fatigue  and 
excitement.  The  first  salutation  was  the  announce 
ment  from  a  member  of  some  new  squad  that  : 

"  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  have  offered  a  reward  of 
three  thousand  dollars  for  the  capture  of  the  rob 
bers,  dead  or  alive.  The  woods  are  full  of  peeple  !  " 

"Tell   them   to   go   home,"   said   Steve.      "The 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


130  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

rascals  are  all  dead — as  dead  as  gunpowder  and 
lead  can  make  them  ! " 

At  this  juncture  the  sheriff  and  his  posse  came  up. 

"  I've  got  'em,  Gentry ! "  shouted  Venard,  over 
flowing  with  glee  and  excitement — "  all  of  'em — 
every  mother's  son  of  em  !  " 

"Where  are  they?" 

"  Scattered  about  promiscuously." 

"  Not  dead  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir ;  dead — every  man  of  'em — dead  as  a 
door-nail — cold  as  a  hammer  !  And  the  only  thing 
I  regret  is  that  I  threw  away  a  valuable  shot  on 
one  of  the  scoundrels.  I  am  squarely  and  fairly  a 
cartridge  out." 

The  news  of  the  summary  justice,  and  of  the  un 
exampled  heroism  of  Venard  spread  like  an  ep 
idemic  through  the  cities  of  Nevada  and  Grass 
Valley,  and  exceeded  all  bounds  when,  at  half -past 
two  in  the  afternoon,  the  dead  bodies  of  Shanks, 
Finn  and  'Moore  were  brought  into  the  former  town, 
and  the  full  amount  of  money  stolen  was  deposited 
at  the  express  office. 

The  company  at  once  paid  Venard  the  three 
thousand  dollars,  and  also  presented  him  with  a 
magnificent  Henry  rifle  heavily  mounted  with 
gold  and  beautifully  inscribed.  F.  F.  Low,  at  that 
time  Governor  of  California,  appointed  Venard  on 
his  staff,  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel,  "  for 
meritorious  services  in  the  field." 


A.  RAMBLE  WITH  FLORA. 


"  Flora,"  a  renowned  Roman  goddess,  was  wor 
shipped  in  magnificent  pomp  during  and  from  the 
very  earliest  times.  As  the  goddess  of  buds  and 
flowers  and  Spring,  her  mythological  achievements 
were  perpetuated  in  a  shaft  or  temple,  which  reared 
its  colossal  pile  near  the  ruins  of  the  circus  max- 
imus.  Her  festive  celebrations  were  annually  what 
now  answer  to  the  last  three  days  of  the  fourth 
month  of  our  year,  or  the  second  of  the  ancient 
Romans. 

Flora,  in  strictly  Grecian  legend,  answers  to  one 
of  the  Hone,  named  Chloris,  who  became  the  faith 
ful  wife  of  Zephros,  the  genial  west  Spring  wind— 
a  rival  lover  of  Boreas,  the  mythological  function  of 
the  rude  blasts  from  the  wintry  north. 

It  is  the  general  impression  that  Florida  was  so 
called  after  its  profusion  of  flowers.  This  is  a 
popular  mistake.  It  was  called  Florida  because 
Ponce  de  Leon,  whose  was  the  first  foot  placed  upon 
its  territory,  landed  at  St.  Augustine,  in  1513,  on 
"  Pascua  Florida,"  or  Easter  Sunday.  It  is  stated, 
however,  that  Florida,  which  means  florid  or  flowery, 
was  the  name  given  the  territory  aforesaid  by  Vas- 
quezin  1520,  on  account  of  the  delightful  aspect  of 
the  country  inland  from  that  famous  winter  resort 
of  wealthy  valetudinarians — St.  Augustine.  It  is  a 
pretty  name,  and  suggests  floral  munificence. 


132  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

That  the  appellation  of  "  Flowery  Kingdom,"  as 
applied  to  China,  means  an  abundance  of  flowers 
throughout  that  pagan  land,  is  also  an  erroneous 
impression.  The  words  "Flowery  Kingdom"  con 
stitute  a  translation  of  the  Chinese  classical  words 
Hwa  Kwoh,  a  name  bestowed  upon  China  by  its 
own  inhabitants,  and  is  intended  to  convey  the  idea 
that  the  Chinese  nation  is  the  most  civilized,  edu-- 
cated  and  polished  in  the  world. 

It  is  only  certain  that  one  place  in  the  world  has 
been  named  after  the  flowers  that  grew  in  profusion 
thereon,  and  this  beautiful  thought  was,  no  doubt, 
a  piece  of  assurance  on  the  part  of  some  Portuguese 
who  settled  upon  one  of  the  Azores  Islands,  in  1448, 
and  who  called  their  settlement  "  Flores,"  or  Isle  of 
Flowers. 

Now,  there  is  no  distinct  flowery  kingdom  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  The  Roman  goddess  is  omni 
present,  and  scatters  her  exquisite  gifts  in  every 
latitude.  True,  plants,  trees,  grasses  and  flowers  may 
be  cultivated  and  grown  more  successfully  in  some 
parts  of  the  world  than  in  others.  And,  right  here, 
I  claim  California  as  the  home  of  Flora.  Almost 
everything  that  "  grows  in  the  earth  beneath,  or  in 
the  waters  under  the  earth,"  "  from  Greenland's  icy 
mountains  to  India's  coral  strand,"  may  be  made  to 
attain  perfection  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  mountains;  while,  in  that  garden-spot  of  our 
State  known  as  Los  Angeles,  and  termed  by  tourists 
the  Paradise  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  almost  all  vari 
eties  of  grass,  shrub,  plant,  tree  and  flower  are  made 
to  adorn  and  perfume  that  land  the  year  round. 

A  love  for  beautiful  and  rare  flowers  is  mani 
fested  in  every  inhabitable  part  of  the  globe.  Even 
the  savage  betrays  a  reverence  for  his  native  flowers, 
and  all  modern  and  ancient  languages  are  full  of 


A  RAMBLE  WITH   FLORA.  133 

eloquent  passages  where  flowers  are  used  as  figures 
of  speech  to  express  a  sense  of  beauty  or  loveliness. 
In  every  clime  flowers  are  found — and  in  almost 
every  clime  they  are  cultivated — in  great  variety 
and  abundance — even  the  snowy  regions  of  Green 
land  presenting  some  interesting  varieties,  which 
blossom  in  the  brief  season  of  Summer  vouchsafed  to 
the  curious  inhabitants  of  that  sterile  portion  of  the 
earth.  Tropical  vegetation  is  overloaded  with  mag 
nificent  flowers,  many  of  which  exhale  delicious 
perfumes.  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  the  antipodal 
islands,  respectively,  possess  many  distinct  and  inter 
esting  varieties ;  South  America  furnishes  a  number 
of  rare  specimens,  and  North  America  is  no  less  rich 
in  the  abundance  and  variety  of  her  floricultural 
treasures. 

In  all  civilized  countries  the  cultivation  of  flowers 
is  a  universal  passion — the  rich  and  the  poor  in 
dulging  in  these  luxuries  according  to  their  means 
and  their  tastes.  And  there  is  no  State  in  the  Union 
like  California  in  this  delightful  respect.  Almost 
every  house,  not  commercially  used  in  San  Francisco 
and  other  California  cities,  has  its  garden,  while  the 
charming  city  of  Los  Angeles  seems  one  vast  con 
servatory,  which  fills  the  air  with  fragrance  from 
January  to  December. 

As  I  have  heretofore  stated,  all  of  the  countries  of 
the  world  contribute  their  quota  of  floral  beauties, 
the  result  being  a  most  bewildering  array  of  rare 
and  magnificent  specimens.  Africa  furnishes  sev 
eral  stately  plants  of  massive  foliage  and  singular 
form.  Europe  contributes  those  varieties  common 
to  every  garden,  no  matter  how  humble  it  may 
be.  Asia  is  called  on  for  notable  productions  of  the 
floral  kingdom.  America,  herself,  does  wonders  in 
affording  her  quota.  Most  of  the  inhabitable  islands 


134  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

known  are  represented  in  the  collections  of  Flora. 
The  goddess  of  buds  and  flowers  has  rambled 
throughout  the  world,  and  her  lap  is  full  of  its  mul 
tifarious  offerings. 

The  Virginia  Creeper,  Hawthorne,  Magnolia,  Myr 
tle,  Winter  Berry,  Trumpet  Flower,  and  Snowdrop, 
are  all  natives  of  the  United  States  and  North 
America.  Canada  gives  us  the  Arbor  Vitse.  China 
has  furnished  the  world  with  a  select  variety, 
among  which  are  the  Camillia,  Dahlia,  Wax  Tree, 
Heliotrope,  and  many  kinds  of  Myrtle.  The  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  gives  us  the  Arctopus,  Milkwort, 
Giant  Everlasting,  and  Coral  Tree.  The  Bay  Royal 
comes  from  Madeira ;  the  Bell  Flower  from  the 
Canary  Islands  ;  the  Tamarisk  plant  from  Germany  ; 
the  Carnation,  Gilly  Flower  and  Geranium  from 
Flanders ;  the  Tuberose  from  Java ;  the  Mignon 
ette  and  Pink  from  Italy ;  the  Mock  Orange  from 
the  south  of  Europe  ;  the  white  and  yellow  Jasmine 
from  Circassia  and  Catalonia ;  the  Passion  Flower 
from  Brazil;  while  America,  China,  the  Nether 
lands,  Italy,  England  and  France  contribute  to  the 
family  of  the  Rose ;  the  Honeysuckle  is  a  native  of 
America,  China  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope — so  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  same  species  are  gathered  from 
different  parts  of  the  world,  each  country,  however, 
affording  a  distinct  family.  Thus,  to  continue,  the 
Columbine  Flower  originally  came  from  Liberia, 
Colorado,  Kamtchatka  and  British  America;  the 
Sunflower  is  a  native  of  California,  Arizona,  Mexico, 
South  America,  Great  Britain  and  the  interior  of 
Africa.  There  are  many  other  examples,  though 
these  will  serve  as  specimens,  selected  at  random. 
In  many  instances,  as  will  be  noted  above,  a  single 
variety  of  flower  can  only  be  procured  from  a  cer 
tain  locality.  It  may  not  generally  be  known  that 


A   RAMBLE  WITH   FLORA.  135 

Holland  originally  gave  us  seven  kinds  of  Hya 
cinths,  three  of  Tulips,  thirty  varieties  of  the 
Gladiola,  seven  of  the  Narcissi,  one  Crocus,  and  two 
Crown  Imperial. 

One  of  the  peculiarities  of  our  goddess  may  be  il 
lustrated,  thus  :  The  Fuchsia,  much  cultivated  and 
trained  in  this  country  and  Europe,  is  a  detested 
wild  plant,  (like  our  artimesia  of  the  Humboldt 
and  other  deserts,)  of  New  Zealand,  where  it  annoys 
the  farmer  by  its  abundant  and  rapid  growth.  The 
Calla  Lily,  which  grows  in  every  California  garden, 
is  despised  in  Egypt,  its  native  country.  On  the 
other  hand,  our  Yellow  Dock,  a  disagreeable  weed, 
is  much  prized  in  England,  where  it  is  called  the 
American  Velvet  Leaf  Plant.  These  instances  might 
be  multiplied  ad  infinitum. 

There  are  constant  additions,  as  well  as  new  im 
portations,  made  annually,  and  especially  to  the 
family  of  the  Rose.  The  Marschiel  Neil,  a  prodi 
gious  yellow  rose,  is  a  royal  flower,  and  a  great 
addition.  The  Bouselin,  a  delicate  pink  rose,  is  a 
favorite  for  the  button  hole  and  for  the  hair,  and 
comes  from  Boston.  The  Roman  hyacinths  take 
the  lead  in  the  newly  imported  plants,  while  horti 
culturists  are  making  great  improvement  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  bauvar  dia  jasmine,  olisviolia,  pur- 
penia  plena  and  cerulea  plenar,  smilax,  lady  slip 
pers,  and  double  scarlet  geraniums. 

The  largest  flower  in  the  world  is  the  Victoria 
Regina,  a  native  of  the  Amazon  river,  and  which 
may  now  be  found  floating  in  hundreds  of  aquaria, 
included  in  which  is  the  aquarium  at  Golden  Gate 
Park.  The  first  one  brought  to  perfection  in  the 
United  States  was  the  property  of  Ex-Mayor  Larz 
Anderson,  of  Cincinnati,  about  18  years  ago.  The 
next  largest  flower,  or  one  of  the  largest,  (and  also 


136  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  fragrant)  that  grows, 
is  the  Magnolia,  a  native  of  the  Southern  States. 
One  of  the  smallest  flowers  cultivated  is  a  variety 
of  English  Violet.  The  flower  exhaling  the  most 
delightful  aroma  is,  to  my  sense  of  smell,  the  orange 
blossom.  The  very  atmosphere  of  Los  Angeles, 
during  the  spring  months,  is  freighted  with  its 
delicious  odors.  But  there  is  a  peculiarity  of 
taste  (or  smell,  I  may  say,)  in  this  respect ;  and 
ranges  among  the  pinks,  tuberoses,  violets,  jas 
mines,  honeysuckles  and  heliotropes.  The  least 
odoriferous  of  all  flowers  is  the  Japonica — a  cold, 
waxen  beauty  without  a  breath. 

The  wild  flowers  of  California,  Arizona  and  Mex 
ico  are  the  most  profuse  in  variety,  the  most  gor 
geous  in  colors,  and  the  most  prodigal  in  perfume  in 
the  world,  north  of  the  equinoctial  line.  During 
the  months  of  April,  May  and  June  the  smiling  val 
leys  of  California  look  like  an  interminable  stretch 
of  splendid  carpeting,  and  are  rich  in  all  the  mag 
nificent  colors  of  an  Axminster.  During  the  month 
of  April  there  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  of 
wild  flowers  on  each  side  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
Railroad  in  Merced,  Fresno,  Tulare,  Kern  and  Los 
Angeles  Counties.  I  doubt  if  there  is  a  parallel 
picture  in  the  world.  A  remarkable  plant  is  the 
Cactus,  which  has  its  home  in  Mexico,  Arizona  and 
Southern  California.  Humboldt  was  almost  speech 
less  with  wonder  at  the  "Cactus  Giganteus,"  which 
grows  up  in  columns  all  over  Arizona.  There  are 
said  to  be  nearly  four  thousand  varieties  of  cacti, 
there  being  several  hundred  distinct  kinds  of  that 
generally  termed  the  prickly  pear,  or  tuni^ 

The  symbolism,  or  language  of  flowers,  is  replete 
with  poetical  beauty ;  and  is  as  old  as  poetry  itself. 
The  Greeks,  in  their  graceful  fancy,  says  some 


A   RAMBLE   WITH    FLORA.  137 

writer  upon  this  subject,  made  the  events  of  every 
day  life  sentimentally  blend  with  the  beauty  and 
poetry  of  the  flower  world,  while  the  Romans,  to 
some  considerable  degree,  cultivated  the  language 
of  flowers.  England,  Ireland,  France,  Africa — poets, 
painters — religion — all  have  been  symbolized.  In 
Greece,  to  this  day,  palms  greet  the  newly  born  ; 
laurel  announces  the  illness  of  a  friend  ;  garlands 
crown  the  bride,  and  a  cypress  is  spread  over  the 
grave.  In  the  Olympian  games  the  victor  was 
crowned  with  a  wreath  of  wild  olive  leaves,  while 
a  garland  of  laurels  were  in  readiness  for  the  win 
ner  in  the  Pythian.  Montesquieu  says  of  the  Ro 
mans,  "With  one  or  two  crowns  of  oak  they 
conquered  the  world."  Is  there  a  blacker  history 
than  England's  war  of 'roses — the  "giant  of  battle" 
and  the  "  cloth  of  gold  ? "  Where  are  there  so  fa 
mous  symbols  as  the  violet  of  Napoleon,  the  lily  of 
the  Bourbons,  the  palmetto  of  our  own  impetuous 
Carolinians,  and  the  "wearing  of  the  green?"  Moses, 
Solomon,  Jesus,  Mahomet,  Confucius,  Shakespeare, 
Virgil,  Horace,  Milton,  Dryden,  Thompson,  and  all 
the  celebrated  bards  and  law-givers  of  the  world, 
have  left  recorded  traces  of  their  flower  language, 
which  has  given  a  tongue  to  every  leaf  and  jbud 
and  blossom ;  while  the  traditions  of  the  Catholic 
Church  assign  a  symbol  flower  to  every  saint  and 
martyr.  What  symbol  is  there — unless  it  be  the 
orange  blossoms  of  a  bride — so  unspeakably  beau 
tiful  as  the  three-leafed  lily  of  France,  which  is 
the  flower-language  of  piety,  justice  and  charity? 
or  the  common  clover,  used  by  Saint  Patrick,  to 
illustrate  the  Trinity — the  three  in  one  —  Father, 
Son  and  Holy  Ghost  ?" 

One  of  the  most  astonishing  of  botanical  discov 
eries  ever  made  was  that  of  the  great  Russian  bot- 


138  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

anist  Anthoskoff,  who,  in  1870,  found  in  Siberia 
the  beautiful  snow  flower,  the  seeds  of  which  he 
took  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  which  flowered  in  De 
cember,  1872,  in  the  presence  of  the  Imperial  family. 
The  snow  flower  is  perfectly  white,  leaves,  stalk 
and  flower.  It  springs  up  to  the  height  of  three 
feet  in  less  than  three  days.  It  possesses  only  three 
snow  white  leaves  ;  and  the  flower  buds,  blooms  and 
fades  in  four  and  twenty  hours.  It  is  in  the  shape 
of  a  star,  about  four  inches  in  diameter,  and  pos 
sesses  petals  of  great  length.  It  is  faintly  scented  ; 
but  if  touched  with  the  warm  hand,  both  it,  the 
stock  on  which  it  rests,  and  the  leaves  instantly 
melt  into  pure  snow.  It  would  appear  that  it  was 
a  kind  of  snow  fungus;  but  it  produces  seeds  which 
can  be  transplanted,  and  when  sown  in  the  snow 
they  readily  corne  to  maturity  and  produce  flowers. 
This  exquisite  plant  has  all  the  appearance  of  be 
ing  composed  of  snow  and  ice,  and  grows  abund 
antly  in  the  sempiternal  snows  of  Siberia.  It  is 
frequently  mentioned  in  Tartar,  Russian  and  Norse 
poetry,  but  has  hitherto  been  considered  fabulous. 

We  have  a  companion  flower  to  the  above  in  the 
Sierra  Nevada  mountains,  a  magnificent  crimson 
flower  that  must  have  been  seen  by  all  persons  who 
have  visited  the  Mariposa  grove  of  big  trees  when 
there  was  snow  on  the  ground.  The  San  Francisco 
Bulletin  made  mention  of  this  beautiful  snow  flower 
many  years  ago  as  follows :  "  One  of  the  grandest 
objects  which  meets  the  eye  of  the  traveler  in  our 
mountains  is  the  exquisite  plant,  the  Snow  Plant  of 
the  Sierra — the  Barcodes  Sanguinea  of  John  Torrey, 
the  botanist.  It  is  an  inhabitant  only  of  the  higher 
Sierra,  being  rarely  found  below  an  altitude  of 
4,000  feet,  and  its  glorious  crimson  spike  of  flowers 
may  be  seen  early  in  May  forcing  itself  through  the 


A   RAMBLE   WITH   FLORA.  139 

snows  which  at  that  period  cling  about  the  sides  of 
our  pine  forests.  The  portion  of  the  plant  which 
is  visible  above  the  soil  is  a  bright  rosy  crimson  in 
color,  and  presents  the  very  strongest  contrast  to 
the  dark  green  of  the  pines  and  the  shimmer  of  the 
snow.  Its  root  is  succulent,  thick,  and  abundantly 
free  of  moisture,  attaching  itself  to  the  roots  of 
other  plants,  principally  to  the  species  of  the  pine 
family.  Hence  it  is  among  those  curious  members 
of  the  vegetable  world  which  are  known  to  botan 
ists  as  parasites,  and  is  consequently  entirely  incapa 
ble  of  cultivation.  The  deer  are  extremely  fond  of 
it,  and  it  is  not  an  uncommon  circumstance  to  find  a 
number  of  the  plants  uprooted  and  robbed  of  the 
fleshy  part  of  their  underground  growth  by  these 
animals.  It  belongs  to  the  natural  order  Orobanch- 
acea,  and  is  met  with  through  the  whole  of  the 
Sierra  region,  becoming  rarer  as  we  approach  the 
south." 

The  real  Alpine  rose  (Rhododendron  ferrugine- 
um),  with  the  rust-colored  hue  underneath  the 
leaves,  is  growing  in  the  Schneisingen  forest,  near 
Schneisingen,  Canton  of  Aargau.  On  starting,  of 
course  with  a  guide,  from  the  high-lying  church  of 
the  village,  in  the  direction  of  the  Ethal,  and  going 
across  the  wooded  plateau  of  Bowald  in  about  forty 
minutes,  in  an  open  wood  of  mixed  growth,  a  little 
garden,  or  rather  preserve  of  Alpine  roses  is  reached. 
It  is  supposed  to  be  the  only  one  in  the  Jura,  and 
was  discovered  about  five  years  ago,  when  the  par 
ish  of  Schneisingen  took  it  under  its  especial  protec 
tion,  by  having  the  little  colony  fenced  in,  and  ap 
pointing  a  guardian  in  the  person  of  the  forester, 
who  allows  no  one  to  gather  the  flowers.  A  corre 
spondent  of  the  New  York  Times  lately  saw  about 
fifty  plants  in  full  bloom,  the  branches  and  leaves 
also  looking  very  healthy. 


140  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

The  American  Naturalist  notes  the  discovery,  in 
an  abandoned  drift  in  a  mine  in  Nevada,  of  a  re 
markable  fungus.  It  was  growing  from  a  beam 
400  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  was 
three  feet  four  inches  in  length,  and  of  a  light  buff 
color.  It  consisted  mainly  of  a  three-parted  stem, 
two  or  three  inches  in  diameter,  attached  by  means 
of  a  disk  eight  or  ten  inches  wide.  The  stem  was 
divided  into  short  branches,  greatly  resembling  in 
shape  and  arrangement  the  young  antlers  of  a  stag, 
the  three  terminal  ones  being  much  the  most  vigor 
ous  and  conspicuous,  forming  a  perfect  trident." 
The  plant  is  called  by  the  miners  the  "  Lily  of  the 
Mines,"  and  has  been  named  by  the  naturalist  first 
describing  it  Agaricws  Tridens. 

The  London  Garden  copies  from  Palgrave's  work 
on  Central  and  Eastern  Arabia,  an  account  of  a 
plant  whose  seeds  produce  effects  similar  to  those  of 
laughing  gas.  It  is  a  native  of  Arabia.  A  dwarf 
variety  at  Oman,  which  attains  to  a  height  of  from 
three  to  four  feet,  with  woody  stems,  has  wide- 
spreading  branches  and  bright  green  foliage.  Its 
flowers  are  produced  in  clusters,  and  are  of  a  bright 
yellow  color.  The  seed  pods  are  soft  and  woolly  in 
texture,  and  contain  two  or  three  black  seeds,  of  the 
size  and  shape  of  a  French  bean.  Their  flavor  is  a 
little  like  that  of  opium,  and  their  taste  is  sweet;  the 
odor  from  them  produces  a  sickening  sensation  and 
is  slightly  offensive.  These  seeds  contain  the  essen 
tial  property  of  this  extraordinary  plant;  and,  when 
pulverized  and  taken  in  small  doses,  operate  upon  a 
person  in  a  most  peculiar  manner.  He  begins  to 
laugh  loudly,  boisterously ;  then  he  sings,  dances, 
and  cuts  all  manner  of  fantastic  capers.  Such  ex 
travagance  of  gesture  and  manners  was  never  pro 
duced  by  any  other  kind  of  dosing.  The  effect  con- 


A  RAMBLE  WITH  FLORA.  141 

tinues  about  an  hour,  and  the  patient  is  uproar 
iously  comical.    When  the  excitement  ceases  the  ex 
hausted  exhibitor  falls  into  a  deep  sleep  which  con 
tinues  for  an  hour  or  more,  and  when  he  awakens  he 
is  utterly  unconscious  that  any  such  demonstrations 
.have  been  enacted  by  him.     We  usually  say  that 
there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun  ;  but  this  pe 
culiar  plant,  recently  discovered,  as  it  exercises  the 
most  extraordinary  influence  over  the  human  brain, 
demands  from  men  of  science  a  careful  investigation. 
One  of  'the  most  exquisite  wonders  of  the  sea  is 
called  the  opelet,  and  is  about  as  large  as  the  German 
aster,  looking,  indeed,  very  much  like  one.    Imagine 
a  very  large  double  aster,  with  a  great  many  long 
petals  of  a  light  green  color,  glossy  as  satin,  and 
each  one  tipped  with  rose  color.     These  lovely  pet 
als   do   not   lie  quietly  in  their  places,  but  wave 
about  in  the  water,  while  the   opelet  clings  to  a 
rock.     How   innocent   and   lovely   it  looks  on  its 
rocky  bed  !     Who  would  suspect  that  it  would  eat 
anything   grosser  than  dew   and   sunlight  ?      But 
those  beautiful  waving  arms,  as  you  call  them,  have 
use  besides  looking  pretty.     They  have  to  provide 
for  a  large,  open  mouth,  which  is  hidden  down  deep 
among  them — so  hidden  that  one  can  scarcely  find 
it.     Well  do  they  perform  their  duty ;  for  the  in 
stant  a  foolish  little  fish  touches  one  of  the  rosy 
tips,  he  is  struck  with  poison  as  fatal  to  him  as  light 
ning.     He   immediately  becomes  numb,  and  in  a 
moment  stops  struggling,  and  then  the  other  arms 
wrap  themselves  around  him,  and  he  is  drawn  into 
the  huge  greedy  mouth,  and  is  seen  no  more.    Then 
the   lovely  arms  unclose,  and  wave  again  in   the 
water. 

Mr.   D.    M.   Berry,   editor   of   the   Los    Angeles 
Commercial,  under  date  of  June  1,  1876,  wrote  as 


142  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

follows  :  "  A -correspondent  in  the  Express  speaks 
justly  and  enthusiastically  of  the  beautiful  Yucca, 
the  supremest  flower  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  But  the 
writer  is  in  error  in  limiting  the  plant  to  the  bound 
aries  of  the  Santa  Anita  Rancho.  That  charming 
locality  cannot  claim  a  monopoly  of  this  conspicu 
ous  flower.  It  grows  in  countless  numbers  in  our 
picturesque  Sierra  Madres,  and  in  the  numerous  Ar 
royo  Secos  which  lead  from  the  canons  to  the  plains. 
The  floral  wealth  of  the  opulent  county  of  Los  An 
geles  is  but  little  understood.  A  full  description  of 
the  same  would  fill  a  volume  of  great  size  and 
greater  value." 

Two  great,  gorgeous,  white  blossoms  with  yellow 
stamens  and  rose  colored  sepals,  (says  a  writer  in  a 
late  New  York  Herald^  the  continuation  of  a  tube 
a   foot  in  length,  formed  the  crowning  glory  of  an 
immense,  branching  cactus  that  stood  just  within 
the  open  doorway  of  Dr.  Kunze's  drug  store  at  606 
Third  avenue,  last  evening.     The  beautiful  flowers, 
looking  something  like  glorified  pond  lilies,  attracted 
attention.    The  plant  was  the  Phyllocactus  grandis 
rosens,  a  native  of  Central  America,  and  a  type  of 
the  luxuriant  tropical  vegetation  that  requires  the 
rich,    damp  earth   and  intense  heat  of  the  interior 
valleys,  rather  than  a  dry,  arid  soil  in  which  plants 
of  its  genus  are  more  commonly  found.     The  most 
interesting   feature   of    this    particular    cactus    is 
that  it  flowers  only  once  a  year  and  then  only  at 
night.    The  beautiful  calyx,  moreover,  never  unfolds 
more  than  once,  and  then  for  a  few  hours  only. 
Those  of  last  night  began  to  open  at  8  o'clock,  and 
closed  at  about  2  o'clock  A.  M.     They  were  viewed  bv 
artists  and  men  of  science,  who  made    drawings, 
and   took  notes  of  their  peculiarities.     The  plant, 
which  is  five  years  old,  is  the  finest  specimen  of  its 
kind  ever  exhibited  in  New  York. 


A  EAMBLE  WITH   FLOKA.  143 

A  flower  has  been  recently  described  by  an  eye 
witness  at  Constantinople,  which  is  so  great  a  rarity 
that  one  is  apt  to  treat  it  as  a  fable,  and  wait  for 
the 'confirmation  of  one's  own  eye-sight.  It  belongs 
to  the  narcissus  kind  of  bulbs,  and  bears  the  bot 
anic  name  of  Ophyrs  Mouche.  There  were  three 
naked  flowers  on  the  stalk  hanging  on  one  side; 
the  underneath  one  was  fading,  while  the  two  oth 
ers  were  in  all  their  beauty.  They  represented  a 
perfect  humming-bird.  The  breast,  of  bright  emer 
ald  green,  is  a  complete  copy  of  this  bird,  and 
the  throat,  head,  beak  and  eyes  are  a  most  perfect 
imitation.  The  hinder  part  of  the  body  and  the 
two  outstretched  wings  are  of  a  bright  rose  color, 
one  might  almost  say  flesh  colored.  On  the  ab 
domen  rests  the  whole  propagation  apparatus,  of  a 
deep,  dark  brown  tint,  in  the  form  of  a  two-winged 
gadfly. 

In  the  west  of  India  are  found  some  thorny  plants 
or  trees,  nearly  destitute  of  verdure,  except  what 
appears  to  be  long,  shaggy  hair,  which  derives  its 
nourishment  from  the  atmosphere,  rather  than  from 
the  earth. 

The  "  moving  plant "  is  a  native  of  the  basin  of 
the  Ganges.  Its  leaves  revolve  in  various  directions 
during  the  day  and  night,  except  on  a  very  hot  day, 
when  the  plant  seems  to  desist  from  its  habitual 
motion  for  temporary  repose.  A  high  wind  is  said 
to  produce  a  cessation  of  its  motion.  At  times, 
again,  only  certain  parts  of  the  plants  are  noticed  to 
be  in  motion — a  leaf,  or,  perhaps,  a  branch  ;  and  it 
seldom  occurs  that  some  portion  of  it  is  not  quite 
motionless  while  the  remainder  is  active. 

Near  the  Irrawaddy  grows  the  Borassuss  flabella- 
formts,  which  bears  a  leaf  of  wonderful  dimensions, 
and  which  is  said  to  be  of  sufficient  size  to  cover 
twelve  men  standing  upright. 


144  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

At  Timor,  near  the  island  of  Java,  a  plant  is 
found,  the  leaf  of  which,  being  of  thorny  nature, 
possesses  a  fatal  sting  when  penetrating  the  flesh. 
The  victim,  if  not  fatally  poisoned,  frequently  suf 
fers  protracted  illness.  The  plant  is  called  "  devil's 
leaf." 

There  was  lately  on  exhibition  at  Mr.  Spurgeon's 
store  at  Santa  Ana,  (Gal.),  a  large  tropical  flower  of 
many  petals  and  striking  beauty.  It  is  from  the  Ca- 
meleon  vine,  imported  from  Madagascar  by  Mr. 
Kendall.  The  flower  possesses  the  peculiarity  of 
changing  color  three  times  in  the  course  of  the  year, 
varying  from  green  to  red. 

The  popular  tradition,  which  tells  how  the  name 
came  to  be  applied  to  the  plant  which  now  is  called 
Forget-me-not  throughout  Europe,  is  not  generally 
known.  It  is  said  that  a  knight  and  a  lady  were 
walking  by  the  side  of  the  Danube,  interchanging 
vows  of  devotion  and  affection,  when  the  latter  saw 
on  the  other  side  of  the  stream  the  bright  blue  flow 
ers  of  the  Myosotis  and  expressed  a  desire  for  them. 
The  knight,  eager  to  gratify  her,  plunged  into  the 
river,  and  reaching  the  opposite  banks  gathered  a 
bunch  of  flowers.  On  his  return,  however,  the  cur 
rent  proved  too  strong  for  him,  and  after  many  ef 
forts  to  reach  the  land,  he  was  borne  away.  With 
a  last  effort  he  flung  the  fatal  blossoms  upon  the 
bank,  exclaiming,  as  he  did  so,  "  Forget-me-not !" 

Flower  legends  have  been  written,  both  by  an 
cients  and  moderns — one  of  the  latter  of  which 
I  will  quote,  and  which  will  make  an  appropriate 
ending  to  this  sketch.  It  is  related  of,  and  firmly 
believed  in  by,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Harz  Moun 
tains,  and  is  called  the  "  Legend  of  the  Night-flow 
ering  Lily  of  Lanenberg :" 

"Beautiful  Alice  dwelt  with  her  widowed  mother 


A  RAMBLE  WITH  FLORA.          145 

in  a  small  cottage  at  the  foot  of  the  Harz  Moun 
tains.     Her  principal  occupation  was  that  of  gath 
ering  forest-straw — that  is,  dried  foliage  of  the  pine 
and  fir  tribe — which  is  very  much  used  in  certain 
parts  of  Germany  as  a  stuffing  for  beds,  etc.     Thus 
was  the  maiden  occupied  when  the  Lord  of  Lanen- 
berg  rode  by.     With  wily  words  he  extolled  her 
looks,  and  swore  that  she  was  too  pretty  a  blossom 
to  be  hidden  in  a  peasant's  cot,  and  begged  her  to 
go  with  him,  and  dwell  in  his  lordly  castle,  where 
she  would  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  command,  and 
where  all  would  obey  her.     The  simple  girl  was 
dazzled  by  the  brilliant  prospect ;  but,  true  to  her 
simplicity,  flew  to  her  mother,  and  related  all  that 
had  transpired.     The  mother  wept  bitterly  over  her 
darling's  communication,  for  too  well  she  knew  the 
character  of  Lanenberg's  dissolute  baron.     Hastily 
packing  up  her  few  household  treasures,  she  carried 
off  her  wondering  and  sorrowful  child  to  the  shelter 
of  a  neighboring  convent,  within  whose  sombre  walls 
she  believed  poor  Alice  might  rest  secure.  Not  long, 
however,   had   the   simple   country-girl   been   im 
mured  in  the  holy  edifice  before  the  enraged  noble 
discovered  her  retreat ;   and,  determined  to  obtain 
the  beautiful  flower,  assembled  his  vassals,  forced 
an  entrance  into  the  convent,  and,  seizing  the  object 
of  his  passion,  bore  her,  half  dead  with  fear,  to  his 
castle.     On  arriving  at  midnight  in  the  garden  in 
front  of  his  dwelling,  he  alighted  with  his  senseless 
burden  in  his  arms ;  but,  as  he  attempted  to  enter 
the  castle,  the  guardian  spirits  of  Alice  snatched 
the  poor  maiden  from  his  arms.     On  the  very  spot 
where  her  feet  had  been,  sprang  up  the  beautiful 
Lily  of  Lanenberg.     The  annual  appearance  of  the 
lily  at  midnight  is  anxiously  looked  forward  to  by 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Harz,  and  many  of  them  are 


146 


OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 


said  to  perform  a  nightly  pilgrimage  to  see  it,  re 
turning  to  their  homes  overpowered  by  its  dazzling 
beauty,  and  asserting  that  it  sheds  beams  of  light 
on  the  valley  below." 


THE  WICKENBURG  MASSACRE. 


Five  hundred  odd  rude  graves  of  pioneers  and 
soldiers  scattered  throughout  Arizona  mark  with 
dreadful  precision  the  evidences  of  the  deadly  work 
of  the  treacherous  Apache  since  the  inauguration  of 
the  Territorial  Government  at  Navajo  Springs,  near 
Zuni,  in  Northern  Arizona,  on  the  29th  of  December, 
1863.  But,  thanks  to  a  McCormick  in  Congress  ; 
a  Saffbrd  at  the  head  of  civil  affairs ;  a  General 
Crook  in  the  field ;  a  brave,  determined,  industrious 
people,  and  the  advent  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
Railroad,  no  hostile  Indian  to-day  roams  through 
any  part  of  that  Territory,  and  no  more  is  heard  the 
flight  of  the  poisoned  arrow  or  the  whiz  of  the 
treacherous  bullet. 

It  is  absolutely  a  fact  that  no  meaner,  no  more 
treacherous,  no  more  cowardly,  and  no  more  cruel 
an  Indian  has  ever  lived  than  the  Apache.  And, 
yet,  while  this  fact  was  made  known  to  the  Gov 
ernment  by  its  faithful  officers,  and  the  press  of  the 
far  west,  Eastern  preachers  and  writers  and  legis 
lators  threw  up  their  hands  in  holy  horror  every 
time  an  Arizona  savage  was  made  to  bite  the  dust, 
and  charged  violently  upon  the  sturdy  settlers  and 
the  Government  with  "  philanthropic  cruelty." 

Eastern  people  seemed  to  listen  to  every  story 
concerning  the  alleged  wrongs  of  the  Indian,  but  be 
lieved  nothing  regarding  the  wrongs  of  the  white 


148  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

population.  Not  one  man  in  five  hundred  in  Arizona 
was  in  any  way  responsible  for  the  Indian  troubles 
in  that  Territory.  Hundreds  of  innocent  men,  women 
and  children  had  been  murdered ;  stages  had  been 
attacked  and  their  passengers  burned  at  the  stake  ; 
gallant  army  officers  had  been  killed,  and  yet  there 
was  scarcely  an  expression  of  sympathy  coming 
from  the  East.  McCormick  once  said  in  Congress  : 
"  I  think  I  am  qualified  to  express  a  fair  opinion 
upon  the  subject.  I  went  from  the  city  of  New 
York  to  Arizona  with  my  prejudices  largely  in 
favor  of  the  Indian,  but  when  I  came  to  deal  with 
him  I  could  clearly  understand  the  terrible  wrongs 
against  which  the  people  had  to  contend.  Now, 
the  Eastern  people  seem  to  fail  to  comprehend  the 
difference  between  the  various  tribes.  There  are 
Indians  whose  tendency  is  toward  civilization,  who 
live  in  villages  and  who,  while  they  are  naturally 
inclined  to  steal  and  commit  occasional  depreda 
tions,  are  for  the  most  part  friendly  and  peaceable. 
Then  there  are  the  Apaches,  who  are  wild  and  of 
the  very  lowest  order  of  human  beings.  They 
offered  to  make  peace  on  numerous  occasions  when 
hard  pressed  by  the  troops,  but  so  soon  as  the  press 
ure  was  removed,  they  returned  to  commit  murders 
and  depredations.  My  judgment  is  that  if  the  Chief 
Cachise  has  surrendered  the  fact  is  attributed  to 
the  active  aggressive  movements  of  General  Crook 
more  than  any  influence  of  the  Peace  Commission 
ers." 

Still,  the  Eastern  press  and  the  Eastern  pulpits 
continued  to  make  war  upon  the  white  settlers  of 
Arizona,  and  to  send  greeting  to  the  red  skins ;  and, 
at  last,  forced  the  Government  to  send  out  a  man 
named  Vincent  Colyer,  who  traveled  through  the 
Territory  under  a  large  cavalry  escort,  with  prayer 
books  in  one  hand  and  presents  in  the  other. 


THE  WICKENBURG  MASSACRE.        149 

Between  Colyer  and  McCormick  a  very  bitter 
feud  grew  up.  Colyer,  it  seems,  returned  to  Wash 
ington  from  a  thirty-day's  trip  through  Arizona, 
and  claimed  that  the  Apaches  could  be  very  easily 
managed  if  treated  with  any  degree  of  justice  ;  and 
added  that  they  were  hunted  down  like  wolves, 
and  "  not  allowed  to  be  peaceable."  McCormick  very 
warmly  denied  this,  and  declared  :  "  The  Apaches 
are  a  thieving,  blood-thirsty  and  treacherous  set  of 
savages,  who  will  never  be  at  peace  until  they  are 
whipped  into  submission  ;  at  present  they  only  use 
the  reservations  as  places  of  safety,  to  which  to 
return  when  too  hotly  pursued,  and  from  whence, 
after  recruiting  their  strength  and  obtaining  sup 
plies,  they  can  again  issue  forth  to  commit  fresh 
depredations.  Colyer  says  he  passed  in  safety 
through  the  Territory.  So  he  did ;  but  he  had  a 
large  escort  with  him  for  protection,  and  the  Indi 
ans  came  out  to  meet  him  because  he  had  a  white 
flag  raised,  and  they  knew  he  was  bringing  them 
presents.  The  very  Indians  who  received  these 
presents  would  have  cut  his  throat  the  next  day,  if 
it  had  not  been  for  the  troops." 

How  this  all  would  have  ended  can  never  be 
known.  An  event  transpired  in  the  heart  of  the 
Territory,  just  four  weeks  after  the  return  of  Col 
yer  to  Washington,  which  startled  the  country,  re 
deemed  Arizona,  and  consigned  Vincent  Colyerism 
to  oblivion.  I  mean  the  massacre  near  Wickenburg, 
on  the  4th  of  November,  1871,  during  which  Fred. 
Loring,  of  Boston,  and  five  others,  were  killed,  and 
two  (a  man  and  a  woman)  made  their  escape.  The 
simple  telegram  from  San  Bernardino  to  the  Los 
Angeles  papers  was  as  follows : 

"  The  La  Paz  stage  arrived  in  town  yesterday 
about  twelve  o'clock,  From  Mr.  Hank  Brown  and 


150  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

passengers  from  Ehrenberg  we  get  the  particulars  of 
an  attack  by  Indians  upon  the  Wickenburg  and  La 
Paz  stage,  on  Monday  morning  at  nine  o'clock  A.  M. 
The  stage  left  Wickenburg  early  in  the  morning, 
with  seven  passengers  for  San  Bernardino.  When 
about  ten  miles  from  Wickenburg,  it  was  attacked 
by  about  thirty  Apache-Mojaves.  At  the  first  fire, 
the  two  persons  on  the  outside  of  the  coach  with 
the  driver,  John  Lance  (better  known  as  Dutch 
John),  were  shot  through  the  head  and  instantly 
killed.  Inside  the  coach  were  five  passengers,  three 
of  whom  were  killed.  Mr.  Wm.  Kruger,  of  Prescott, 
and  Miss  Mollie  Sheppard  were  wounded,  and  es 
caped  to  the  brush ;  Mr.  Kruger  defended  himself 
and  Miss  Sheppard  with  his  six-shooter.  The  Indi 
ans  did  not  follow  them ;  they  succeeded  in  escaping 
and  reaching  Wickenburg,  though  both  were  se 
verely  wounded.  The  following  are  the  passengers 
killed :  Fred  Shoholm,  F.  W.  Loring,  W.  G.  Solo 
mon,  P.  W.  Hamel,  C.  S.  Adams,  and  the  driver, 
John  Lance.  The  body  of  Adams  was  found  fifty 
yards  from  the  stage.  Lance  left  San  Bernardino 
about  four  weeks  ago,  and  this  was  his  second  trip 
over  the  route.  One  of  the  wheel  horses  was  killed 
at  the  first  fire ;  the  others  were  unharnessed  and 
turned  loose.  The  attack  was  not  made,  it  appears, 
for  the  purpose  of  robbing  the  stage,  as  there  was 
considerable  money  in  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.'s  express 
box  untouched ;  and  the  mail  bags,  although  cut 
open,  none  of  the  mail  was  disturbed.  The  news 
of  this  horrible  murder  was  first  conveyed  to 
Wickenburg  by  the  driver  of  the  buck-board,  who 
passed  a  few  hours  after  the  attack  on  the  stage, 
carrying  the  mail  for  Wickenburg.  What  will  the 
great  Washington  Sachem  think  now,  when  he 
hears  of  such  barbarities  being  committed  by  his 


THE  WICKENBURG  MASSACRE.       151 

Arizona  pets  ?  Only  four  weeks  ago  Vincent  Colyer 
passed  by  stage  over  this  route,  under  an  assumed 
name,  on  his  return  to  Washington.  Had  he  been 
among  the  unfortunate  passengers  on  this  stage, 
and  had  fallen  a  victim,  like  them,  to  Indian 
bullets,  but  few  tears  would  have  been  dropped 
over  his  lost  scalp." 

The  death  of  Loring  created  a  great  sensation  in 
the  East,  and  at  once  the  press  of  New  York  and 
New  England  wheeled  into  line  and  concluded  that 
the  Apache  must  be  treated  with  less  bible  and 
more  sword.  The  Springfield  Republican  said: 
"By  the  death  of  Frederick  W.  Loring  American 
literature  loses  an  influence  which  would  probably 
have  done  much  to  shed  glory  and  honor  upon  her. 
We  do  not  know  that  anything  can  be  said  to  dis 
pel  the  deep  sadness  of  such  a  death.  That  consola 
tion  which  points  to  a  future  world,  where  higher 
powers  may  be  developed  and  surer  and  more  use 
ful  successes  won,  is  too  indefinite  and  remote  to 
accomplish  its  aim.  The  affliction  is  purely,  pro 
foundly  and  absolutely  an  affliction,  and  that  is  all 
that  the  sensitive  and  hopeless  human  mourner  can 
feel  about  it.  American  literature  emphatically  needs 
all  the  young  and  strong  blood  poured  into  her  that 
she  can  acquire ;  and  it  is  especially  and  irremedi 
ably  afflicting  thus  to  see  a  youth  of  wonderful 
promise,  and  of  extraordinarily  bright  surroundings, 
thus  struck  down  in  the  very  spring-tide  of  his 
promise."  The  Boston  Journal  also  commented 
upon  the  tragedy :  "  The  papers  of  the  Pacific  Coast 
are  very  bitter  in  their  denunciations  of  Mr.  Vincent 
Colyer  for  his  interference  in  Arizona  matters, 
claiming  that  the  Apaches  would  have  been  over 
come  effectually  long  ago  but  for  his  over-tenderness 
towards  them.  The  truth  seems  to  be,  says  Hearth 


152  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

and  Home,  that  these  Apaches  are  a  particularly 
brutal  tribe  of  an  especially  brutal  race,  and  that 
nothing  short  of  a  cavalry  brigade  has  any  influence 
with  them.  Mr.  Vincent  Colyer,  however,  has  a  pet 
theory  as  to  efficacy  of  presents  and  the  power  of 
wheedling,  the  exercise  of  which,  these  papers  think, 
was  merely  the  encouraging  of  savages  to  cut  the 
throats  of  better  men.  One  thing  is  certain — the 
world  could  better  afford  to  lose  the  whole  Indian 
race,  with  Mr.  Vincent  Colyer  into  the  bargain, 
than  to  have  one  such  man  as  Fred.  Loring  fall  a 
victim  to  an  Indian  outrage,  through  the  sentimen 
tal  tenderness  of  a  theorist  weak  enough  to  trust 
to  an  Indian's  promise  of  good  behavior."  And 
the  New  York  Tribune  came  to  the  front  with  the 
following  editorial  paragraph:  "Accounts  from 
Arizona  are  rather  unfavorable  for  the  prospects  of 
any  lasting  peace  with  the  Apaches.  The  harassed 
Territory  is  in  a  turmoil,  and  the  soothing  presence 
of  Mr.  Vincent  Colyer  has  resulted  in  the  death  of 
a  rising  young  American  whose  name  is  already 
famous  in  the  literature  of  our  country.  It  must  be 
acknowledged  that  the  man  who  has  shown  a  cor 
rect  appreciation  of  all  the  bearings  of  the  much 
vexed  Indian  question  is  Gen.  Crook,  who,  with  his 
great  sagacity  and  shrewdness,  has  never  combined 
that  harshness  which  is  too  often  characteristic  of 
military  men." 

In  a  short  time  after  the  massacre  the  two  sur 
vivors  arrived  in  Los  Angeles,  and  an  interview  with 
them  elicited  the  following  description  of  the  affair: 

The  people  occupying  the  stage  at  the  time  of  its 
leaving  Wickenburg,  were  in  high  spirits,  and  an 
ticipated  no  danger  of  an  attack.  Their  arms  had 
been  stored  beneath  the  cushions  of  the  seats  for 
convenience  and  safety ;  and  wit,  wine,  and  humor 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 
THE  WICKENBURG  MASSACRE.  153 

flowed  freely ;  everything  going  on  as  "  merry  as  a 
marriage  bell,"  until  the  moment  of  attack.  Miss 
Sheppard  and  Mr.  Kruger  and  three  others  sat  on 
the  inside.  Young  Loring  rode  on  the  outside,  in 
company  with  the  driver.  The  first  notification  the 
inside  passengers  had  of  the  presence  of  danger  was 
at  a  point  about  nine  miles  from  Wickenburg,  when 
they  were  startled  by  the  voice  of  the  driver,  call 
ing  out : 

"Apaches!  Apaches!  Apaches!" 

Scarcely  was  the  alarm  thus  given,  than  a  volley 
was  discharged  from  the  rifles  of  the  savages  into 
the  stage  coach,  succeeded,  almost  instantly,  by  a 
second  one.  The  driver,  Loring,  Shoholm,  and  Ha- 
mel,  were  killed  instantly,  Loring  groaning  slightly 
for  a  few  moments,  Hamel  and  Shoholm  remaining 
upright  in  their  seats.  Mr.  Salmon  received  a 
shot  in  the  abdomen,  and,  seemingly  in  his  agony, 
sprang  out  of  the  stage.  Mr.  Kruger  received  a 
ball  in  his  right  shoulder,  and  two  shots  in  the 
back.  Upon  the  firing  of  the  first  volley,  he 
grasped  Miss  Sheppard  and  forced  her  under  the 
seat,  lying  down  on  the  floor  of  the  coach  himself, 
having  previously  discharged  the  contents  of  his 
pistol  into  the  midst  of  the  savages.  Miss  Sheppard 
had  been  wounded  in  the  right  arm  above  the  elbow, 
and  two  shots  had  ploughed  through  the  flesh  of  her 
shoulder.  After  the  discharge  of  the  second  volley 
everything  remained  quiet  for  a  few  moments,  so 
still  that  the  dropping  of  a  pin  might  have  been 
distinctly  heard.  There  being  no  signs  of  life  in 
the  coach,  the  savages  presumed  that  they  had  suc 
ceeded  in  killing  all,  and  with  one  accord  sprang 
cat-like  from  their  ambush  upon  the  coach.  When 
within  almost  arm's  length  of  it,  Mr.  Kruger  and 
Miss  Sheppard  sprang  to  their  feet  and  yelled  with 


154  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

all  their  might,  the  former  holding  his  revolver  in 
their  faces.  This  was  too  much  for  the  cowardly 
red-skins,  and  they  at  once  retreated  pell-mell  to 
cover.  The  two  then  sprang  from  the  stage  and 
called  out  for  all  of  those  still  alive  to  follow  them. 
The  only  response  was  from  Mr.  Adams,  who  was 
lying  on  the  bottom  of  the  coach-.  Adams  seems  to 
have  been  paralyzed  by  the  shot  he  had  received, 
being  unable  to  move  anything  except  his  head, 
which  he  raised,  saying : 

"  O,  God!  can't  you  save  me  ?" 

When  asked  if  he  could  move,  he  answered  in 
the  negative ;  Kruger  then  told  him  that  they 
would  be  compelled  to  leave  him  to  his  fate.  He 
was  then  lying  face  downwards.  When  subse 
quently  found,  he  had  been  turned  over  and  shot 
through  the  head. 

Kruger  and  Miss  Sheppard  then  left  the  stage, 
and  struck  through  the  brush,  closely  followed  by 
the  Indians.  The  Apaches  had  apparently  expend 
ed  their  rifle  ammunition  at  the  first  attack,  as  they 
had  pistols  only  when  following  the  fugitives. 
These  they  discharged  at  them  frequently,  keeping, 
however,  at  a  respectful  distance,  dreading  the  re 
volver  in  the  hand  of  Kruger,  which  was  leveled 
at  them  whenever  they  attempted  to  close  upon 
them.  Miss  Sheppard  had  also  armed  herself  with 
an  empty  wine-bottle,  furnished  to  her  by  Kruger, 
which  also  had  considerable  effect  in  intimidating 
them  when  they  approached,  mistaking  it  for  a 
weapon.  Shortly  afterward,  they  regained  the  road, 
and  plodded  along  in  the  direction  of  Ehrenberg, 
dogged  by  four  Apaches  on  the  right,  and  five  on 
the  left,  Kruger  all  the  while  supporting  his  com 
panion  with  one  hand,  and  intimidating  their 
pursuers  with  the  revolver  in  the  other.  Their 


THE  WICKENBURG  MASSACRE.  155 

wounds  were  bleeding  freely  jjuring  the  whole  time, 
and  when  completely  exhausted,  having  traveled 
through  loose  sand  for  a  distance  of  at  least  five 
miles,  they  were  greeted  by  the  welcome  sight  of  a 
cloud  of  dust,  arising  from  the  buckboard  con 
veying  mails  to  Wickenburg.  The  Apaches  were 
not  any  slower  than  themselves  in  discovering  it, 
and  almost  immediately  vanished.  The  driver  of 
the  buckboard  was  so  frightened  when  he  saw  the 
fugitives,  that  it  was  with  some  difficulty  that  he 
was  induced  to  take  them  on  board,  and  even  then 
not  until  Kruger  threatened  to  shoot  him.  They 
were  then  conveyed  a  few  miles  in  the  direction  of 
Ehrenberg,  to  the  confines  of  a  barren  desert,  some 
thirty  or  forty  miles  broad,  on  the  other  side  of 
which  that  city  lay.  Here  the  driver  concluded  to 
leave  them,  while  he  rode  across  the  country  for  as 
sistance,  promising  to  return  by  seven  o'clock  in 
the  evening.  An  improvised  barricade  was  formed 
of  the  mail  bags  and  a  trunk,  behind  which  they  re 
mained,  fearing  momentarily  another  attack  from 
the  Apaches.  It  was  not  until  past  midnight  that 
relief  came.  In  the  interim,  they  had  suffered 
fearfully  from  thirst  and  cold.  At  eleven  o'clock 
they  saw,  in  the  form  of  fires,  signs  on  the  hills 
which  satisfied  them  that  there  was  succor  coming. 
A  body  of  about  twenty  armed  men,  with  an  ambu 
lance  to  convey  the  dead,  had  been  brought  from 
Wickenburg,  and  they,  with  five  of  the  six  that 
had  been  murdered,  were  at  once  taken  back  to 
that  place.  The  sixth  body — that  of  Mr.  Salmon 
—was  not  found  until  the  following  morning,  as 
he  had  crawled  some  distance  away  from  the  stage, 
where  he  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  savages 
and  had  been  scalped,  the  skin  being  torn  off  from 
the  chin  to  the  back  of  the  head. 


156  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

Loring,  Lance,  Shoholm,  Hamel  and  Adams,  were 
all  decently  buried  at  Wickenburg,  but  Salmon  was 
interred  in  the  middle  of  the  road  near  where  the 
attack  had  been  made. 

The  Indians  had  rifled  all  the  baggage  within  the 
stage,  taking  therefrom  all  the  valuables  they  con 
tained,  in  the  way  of  money  and  jewelry.  Kruger's 
loss  was  within  a  trifle  of  $8,000,  and  Miss  Shep- 
pard's  a  similar  amount.  The  other  passengers  also 
had  large  sums  of  money,  all  of  which  the  savages 
carried  away. 

The  mail  bags  were  packed  in  the  boot  of  the  stage. 
A  demijohn,  containing  about  a  gallon  of  whisky,  six 
bottles  of  Jamaica  rum,  and  several  bottles  of  porter, 
were  stowed  there  also.  After  ransacking  one  or  two 
of  the  bags,  it  is  presumed,  the  Apaches  discovered 
the  liquor,  and  abandoned  everything  for  it,  leaving 
the  balance  of  the  mail  untouched  in  the  forgetful- 
ness  of  intoxication. 

The  survivors  were  confident  that  the  murderers 
were  Apache-Mojaves  from  the  Camp  Date  Creek 
reservation.  They  had  on  the  blue  pants  worn  by 
the  reservation  Indians,  and  had  the  gait,  appear 
ance  and  bearing  of  the  Apaches  during  the  whole 
time  they  were  under  their  observation.  In  addi 
tion  to  this,  Captain  Winhold,  of  the  Third  Cavalry, 
who  had  been  detailed  to  find  out,  if  possible,  who 
they  were,  followed  the  tracks  in  the  direction  of 
Camp  Date  Creek.  The  footprints  were  round- 
toed  after  the  manner  of  the  Apaches.  On  the 
trail,  a  reservation  hunting  bag  was  picked  up,  and 
a  pack  of  cards,  with  corners  cut  off,  such  as  are 
used  by  the  Apache-Mojaves.  He  declared,  in  his 
report  to  his  superior,  that  it  was  his  firm  convic 
tion  that  the  murderers  were  Camp  Date  Creek 
Apaches.  Furthermore,  subsequent  to  the  commit- 


THE  WICKENBURG  MASSACRE.       15? 

tal  of  the  murder,  two  of  the  reservation  Indians 
died  of  gunshot  wounds,  but  whites  were  not  per 
mitted  to  see  them.  The  reservation  Indians  also 
purchased  ammunition  from  the  soldiery,  giving 
greenbacks  in^  denominational  value  of  $10  and 
$20  in  payment  therefor.  While  Kruger  was  at 
Ehrenberg  he  received  information  that  Apaches 
were  offering  $20  and  $50  greenbacks  at  La  Paz, 
five  miles  distant,  for  $2.50  coin.  He  repaired 
thither,  and  while  there  was  seen  by  an  Apache, 
who  seemed  to  recognize  him  instantly,  and,  with  a 
yell,  disappeared.  All  the  Apaches  in  the  neighbor 
hood  left  immediately  afterwards. 

The  wounded  man  and  woman  were  taken  to 
Camp  Date  Creek,  to  receive  medical  treatment,  Dr. 
Evans  being  the  only  physician  nearer  than  Ehren 
berg.  The  lady  carried  with  her  for  a  long  time  a 
relic  of  the  tragedy  in  the  form  of  a  fur  cape, 
which  contained  nine  bullet  holes.  The  old  hat 
worn  by  Loring  at  the  time  of  his  untimely  death 
was  forwarded  to  his  father,  that  being  all  that  was 
left  of  Jiis  effects  unrobbed  or  unburied. 

In  conclusion  I  reproduce  one  of  the  first  poeti 
cal  pencillings  of  young  Loring,  entitled  "  The  Old 
Professor,"  which  every  student  will  appreciate : 

The  old  professor  taught  no  more, 

But  lingered  round  the  college  walks ; 
Stories  of  him  we  boys  told  o'er 

Before  the  fire,  in  evening  talks. 
I'll  ne'er  forget  how  lie  came  in 

To  recitation,  one  March  night, 
And  asked  our  tutor  to  begin; 

"  And  let  me  hear  those  boys  recite." 


158  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

As  we  passed  out  we  heard  him  say, 

"  Pray  leave  me  here  awhile,  alone  ; 
Here  in  my  old  place  let  me  stay, 

Just  as  I  did  in  years  long  flown." 
Our  tutor  smiled  and  bowed  consent, 

Rose  courteous  from  his  high-batked  chair, 
And  down  the  darkening  stairs  he  went, 

Leaving  the  old  professor  there. 


From  out  the  shadows  faces  seemed 

To  look  on  him  in  his  old  place, 
Fresh  faces  that  with  radiance  beamed — 

Radiance  of  boyish  hope  and  grace ; 
And  faces  that  had  lost  their  youth, 

Although  in  years  they  still  were  young ; 
And  faces  o'er  whose  love  and  truth 

The  funeral  anthem  had  been  sung. 

"  These  are  my  boys,"  he  murmured  then, 

"  My  boys,  as  in  the  years  long  past ; 
Though  some  are  angels,  others  men, 

Still,  as  my  boys,  I  hold  them  fast. 
There's  one  don't  know  his  lesson,  now, 

That  one  of  me  is  making  fun, 
And  that  one  is  cheating  ;  — ah  !  I  see — 

And  love  them  every  one. 


'  And  is  it,  then,  so  long  ago 

This  chapter  in  my  life  was  told  ? 
Did  all  of  them  thus  come  and  go, 

And  have  I  really  grown  so  old  1 
No  !  here  are  my  old  pains  and  joys, 

My  book  once  more  is  in  my  hand, 
Once  more  I  hear  these  very  boys, 

And  seek  their  hearts  to  understand." 


THE  WICKENBURG  MASSACEE.  159 

They  found  him  there  with  open  book, 

And  eyes  closed  with  a  calm  content ; 
The  same  old  sweetness  in  his  look 

There  used  to  be  when  fellows  went 
To  ask  him  questions  and  to  talk, 

When  recitations  were  all  o'er ; 
We  saw  him  in  the  college  walk 

And  in  his  former  place  no  more. 


A  MATCHLESS  ACHIEVEMENT. 


The  Railway  stands  confessedly  as  one  of  the 
greatest  of  all  human  contrivances — one  of  the 
grandest  achievements  of  human  ingenuity — one 
of  the  proudest  conquests  of  the  power  of  mind 
over  the  domain  of  matter.  The  restless  giant 
steam,  under  the  curb  and  control  of  mind,  far 
outstrips  muscle  in  the  march  of  progress  and  im 
provement.  The  record  of  the  superiority  which 
the  one  has  achieved  over  the  other  is  as  interesting 
as  any  tale  of  the  genii  of  Arabian  story.  It  is 
the  romance  of  civilization,  and  grows  in  interest  as 
the  index  finger  on  the  dial-plate  of  time  marshals 
the  ages  by  in  grand  procession.  Railroads  have 
been  pioneers  of  great  public  improvements,  es 
pecially  in  our  own  country.  In  their  wake  have 
followed  individual  wealth  and  national  prosperity. 
Through  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  fair  posses 
sions  they  have  been  missionaries  of  good.  They 
have  built  up  cities,  towns  and  villages,  and  diver 
sified  landscapes  with  grainlands,  orchards  and 
gardens ;  they  have  disturbed  the  silence  of  sixty 
centuries,  and  made  the  gloom  of  the  forest  and 
mountain  give  way  to  the  glory  of  the  vineyard 
and  field.  The  Railroad  is  the  acme  of  rapid 
transit,  and  has  no  rival  in  its  method  and  means 
of  transportation.  It  opens  up  waste  plateaus  and 
arid  plains,  and  makes  deserts  blossom  as  the  rose. 


A   MATCHLESS  ACHIEVEMENT.  161 

It  penetrates  uninviting  hillsides  and  mountains, 
and  wakes  up  the  raw  material  which  lies  slumber 
ing  therein.  It  is  a  great  advertiser — it  makes 
known  to  the  world  the  natural  wealth  of  the  sec 
tion  of  country  through  which  it  takes  its  way.  It 
bears  its  precious  burdens  over  and  under  and 
through  mountains,  and  over  and  under  rivers,  by 
night  and  by  day.  It  opens  up  vast  treasures  of 
mineral  and  agricultural  wealth,  and  carries  its 
fructifying  influences  into  every  land.  It  traverses 
alike  the  summits  of  the  snow-clad  mountains  of 
Switzerland  and  California,  and  the  deserts  of  Sa 
hara  and  Arizona.  It  is  the  great  civilizer  of  the 
age — it  pushes  the  Red  Man  of  America  and  the 
Sepoy  of  India  out  of  its  way,  and  brings  the 
prairies  of  the  one  and  the  jungles  of  the  other  into 
the  pale  of  civilization  and  society.  Wherever  you 
find  the  railroad  you  behold  people  who  hew  out 
for  themselves  positions  of  usefulness  in  society; 
people  who  wrestle  with  poverty  or  a  sparse  inher 
itance,  and  weave  crowns  from  the  flowers  of  in 
dustry.  All  along  these  marvellous  thoroughfares 
you  see  churches  and  school-houses — those  twin- 
sisters  of  civilization — spring  up  and  dispense 
light,  liberty,  education  and  religion  all  around. 
Every  year  are  developed  more  and  more  among 
the  residents  along  the  lines  of  these  incomparable 
means  of  transit  the  instincts  of  a  higher  and 
nobler  manhood.  Lands  increase  in  value  and 
homes  are  yearly  improved,  adorned  and  beautified. 
Towering  over  all  other  railroad  enterprises  in 
the  world,  in  majesty  of  importance,  greatness  and 
engineering  skill,  are  the  Central  and  Southern 
Pacific  Railroads  of  California,  and  their  extensive 
water  and  land  connections.  As  far  back  as  1836, 
John  Plumb  agitated  the  subject  of  building  a  rail- 


162  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

road  across  our  continent,  and,  in  1837,  called  a 
meeting  to  take  into  consideration  the  matter  of 
spanning  the  Western  Hemisphere  by  rail.  In 
1846,  Asa  Whitney  enthusiastically  advocated  a 
trans-continental  thoroughfare,  "  to  control  the 
trade  of  the  Indies;"  then  Benton,  Fremont,  Mc- 
Dougall,  Latham,  Phelps,  Sargent,  Marcy,  Hale, 
Gwin,  Jeff.  Davis,  and  hosts  of  other  famous  men, 
including  distinguished  travellers,  soldiers  and 
statesmen,  agitated  the  subject  whenever  the  cir 
cumstances  of  the  occasion  would  permit.  The 
acquisition  and  rapid  growth  and  development  of 
California  was  the  culminating  argument  in  favor 
of  a  Pacific  Railroad.  Fremont  and,  afterward, 
Judah,  demonstrated  that  the  mountains  in  the  way 
were  not  impassable  barriers  to  the  contemplated 
highway  of  rail;  and  Congress,  in  1853-4,  appro 
priated  $340,000  for  a  number  of  surveys,  which 
should  embrace,  beside  the  topography  of  the 
country  adjacent  to  the  respective  routes,  its  geology, 
climate,  fauna,  etc.  Gwin  gave  notice  in  the  Sen 
ate  of  the  United  States  of  a  bill  for  the  construc 
tion  of  a  Pacific  Railroad  as  early  as  1851,  and 
Douglas,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Territories, 
reported  a  bill  on  the  subject  in  1852.  This  failed, 
as  did  all  other  bills  offered  in  either  house  for 
many  years.  It  was  the  policy  of  Democratic 
administrations  to  acquire  all  the  territory  they 
dared  to,  but  they  hesitated,  generally,  when  be 
sought  to  vote  means  for  its  improvement ;  and  it 
remained  for  the  Congress  of  the  Republican  party, 
and,  during  a  conflagration  such  as  never  before  had 
lighted  up  a  country  governed  by  Republican  ideas, 
to  enact  a  law  for  the  building  up  of  what  is  known 
to-day  as  the  Union  Pacific  and  Central  Pacific 
Railroads.  The  general  reader  is  conversant  with 


A  MATCHLESS  ACHIEVEMENT.  163 

what  followed  ;  and  especially  is  the  Californian, 
and,  indeed,  every  resident  of  the  Pacific  Coast, 
conversant  with  the  commencement,  progress  and 
completion  of  the  Central  Pacific;  how,  through 
the  efforts  of  Latham  in  the  Senate,  and  Sargent  in 
the  House,  and  their  colleagues  from  the  Pacific 
Coast,  substantial  national  aid  was  given  it ;  how, 
many  of  the  counties,  as  well  as  the  State  of  Cali 
fornia,  made  donations ;  and  how  Stanford,  Hunt- 
ington,  Charles  and  E.  B.  Crocker,  and  Hopkins, 
gave  their  hearts  and  hands  and  money  to  the 
proposed  great  work;  how  they  encountered  and 
surmounted  obstacles  in  the  shape  of  mountains, 
rivers,  chasms,  deserts  and  snows ;  and  how,  on 
the  10th  of  May,  1869,  the  last  spike  was  driven 
by  Leland  Stanford,  which  connected  the  Central 
with  the  Union  Pacific,  the  point  of  junction  being 
883  miles  from  San  Francisco,  and  1,086  from 
Omaha. 

The  object  of  this  sketch  is  to  portray,  statisti 
cally  and  otherwise,  the  incomparable  benefits  that 
have  resulted  at  large  from  the  building  and  suc 
cessful  operation  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad 
and  its  connecting  lines.  I  propose  to  show  what 
the  people  of  California  have  gained  collectively, 
and  of  what  almost  indescribable  advantage  to  the 
general  government  has  been  the  great  medium  of 
transportation  of  which  I  write.  It  is  of  the 
achievement  of  the  railroad  itself  that  I  write  at 
this  time,  and  not  so  much  of  the  achievements  of 
the  statesmen  and  the  mechanics  and  laborers  who 
gave  it  its  existence,  and  who  may  be  proudly 
termed  its  architects.  Yet,  there  is  something  to 
be  said  about  its  manner  of  construction,  and  the 
aid  given  the  enterprise  by  the  Government  during 
the  time  of  its  greatest  extremity.  It  will  be  re- 


164  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

membered   that  there  existed   in  our  country  the 
most  stupendous  civil  conflict  of  modern  times.    In 
the  face  of  that  collision,   when  we  take  into  con 
sideration  that  all  government  communication  with 
the   Pacific    Coast    was   threatened    by  privateers 
of  the  enemy,  and  that  in  other  ways  the  building 
of  the  Pacific  Railroad  was  a  war  necessity,  it  is  a 
matter  of  the  greatest  astonishment  to  a  majority 
of  fair  thinking  men  how  such  an  outrage  as  the 
Thurman  Act  could  have  become  a  law,  and  have 
been  sustained  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.     That  Pacific  Railroad  Sinking  Fund  law  is 
an  act  of  ingratitude,  and  its  authors  will  some  day 
regret  that  such  a  thing  was  ever  put  in  force ;  that 
the  time  will  come  when  the  principles  of  this  law, 
and  the  subsequent  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
when  applied  to  other  cases,  will  be  found  to  be  un 
sound,  and  that  repeated  application  will  make  the 
unsoundness  so  apparent  that  the  law  will,  in  the 
end,  be  repealed.     Indeed,  the  theory  that  the  Gov 
ernment  is  not  bound  by  any  contract  that  it  may 
make,  but  that  it  may,  by  the  simple  exercise  of  its 
legislative  power,   alter   or   annul  any  of  its  con 
tracts  either  with  corporations  or  individuals,  can 
hardly  be  characterized  as  anything  else  than  mon 
strous.     There   are  those   who   flippantly  applaud 
this  decision,  because  it  touches  other  pockets  than 
their  own.     The  time   may  corne,  however,  when 
those  who  now  exult  will  be  brought  to  grief.     The 
Government  having  loaned  the  Pacific  Railroad  a 
sum  of  money  for  thirty  years,  for  certain  consid 
erations  which  it  has  received,   and  upon   certain 
conditions  which  have  been  fulfilled,  the  Supreme 
Court  decides  that  the  companies  may  be  required 
to  pay  the  thirty  years'  loan  before  it  becomes  due. 
This  is  not  in  the  spirit  that  inspired  Henry  Wilson 


A  MATCHLESS  ACHIEVEMENT.        .          165 

to  say  in  the  Thirty-seventh  Congress  :     "  I  give  no 

frudging  vote  in  giving  away  either  money  or  land, 
would  sink  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  to 
build  the  road,  and  do  it  most  cheerfully,  and  think 
I  had  done  a  great  thing  for  my  country.  What 
are  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  in  opening  a  rail 
road  across  the  central  regions  of  this  continent 
that  shall  connect  the  people  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific,  and  bind  us  together  ?  Nothing  !  As  to 
the  lands,  I  do  not  grudge  them." 

In  January,  1862,  Congress  being  in  Committee 
of  the  Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union,  Sargent 
obtained  the  floor  of  the  House  and  presented  the 
ablest  argument  in  favor  of  a  trans-continental  rail 
way  ever  listened  to  in  that  body.  He  actually 
fired  the  hearts  of  his  fellow  Congressmen,  as  he 
eloquently  and  forcibly  presented  the  subject  as  a 
measure  of  national  safety  and  military  necessity. 
At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Sargent's  speech  a  meeting 
of  the  railroad  committee  was  called,  and  Mr.  Sar 
gent  obtained  virtual  control  of  the  measure ;  in  a 
few  days  a  bill  was  reported  favorably  to  the  House, 
and  after  elaborate  debate  it  passed  the  House  on 
May  6th  by  a  vote  of  79  yeas  to  49  noes.  On  the 
following  day  Senator  McDougall  moved  its  refer 
ence  to  the  committee  of  which  he  was  Chairman. 
Subsequently  he  made  several  unsuccessful  efforts 
to  get  the  subject  before  the  Senate,  and  it  remained 
for  Latham,  on  the  llth  of  June,  1862,  to  get  the 
measure  before  the  august  Senate.  After  a  little 
debate  the  bill  passed  on  June  25th,  by  a  vote  of 
35  to  5,  and  the  House  at  once  concurred  in  the 
Senate  amendments.  President  Lincoln  gave  it  his 
signature  on  the  first  day  of  July,  1862.  Thus  was 
accomplished  in  a  few  weeks  what  had  been  agitated 
and  embodied  in  political  platforms  for  twenty-five 


166  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

years.  The  general  features  of  the  law,  such  as  the 
loaning  of  the  Government  credit,  land  grants,  etc., 
are  known  to  all.  On  the  9th  day  of  January, 
1863,  Governor  Leland  Stanford  turned  up  the  first 
spadeful  of  dirt  at  Sacramento,  in  the  work  of 
constructing  the  western  end,  or  Central  Pacific 
Railroad,  and  on  the  10th  day  of  May,  1869,  he 
drove  the  last  spike  at  Promontory.  The  progress 
of  the  road  was  slow,  at  first,  the  Company  only 
building  20  miles  in  three  years;  then,  in  1866,  en 
countering  unforseen  difficulties  and  unexpected 
opposition,  30  miles  were  built.  In  1867,  although 
snow  and  ridicule  rivalled  each  other  in  the  precipi 
tation  of  their  avalanches  upon  the  struggling 
civilizer,  46  miles  additional  road  was  laid,  and  the 
summit  of  the  American  Alps  was  pierced,  and 
during  the  last  eleven  months  of  the  work  530 
miles  of  road  was  built,  over  ten  miles  having  been 
laid  in  one  day,  at  a  rate  as  fast  as  an  ox  team 
travels.  Thus  was  successfully  terminated  the 
most  colossal  undertaking  of  the  age ;  and  all  along 
the  route  of  this  magnificent  thoroughfare,  in  ten 
years  after  the  driving  of  that  silver  spike  into  the 
backbone  of  the  American  desert,  have  grown  up 
cities  and  towns  and  villages,  as  well  in  the  moun 
tain  heights  as  in  the  desert  wastes,  filling  the  Far 
West  with  an  enterprising  population,  carrying 
with  it  the  wealth,  the  arts  and  refinements  of  the 
highest  order  of  civilization. 

What  then,  are  the  achievements  of  the  Central 
Pacific  Railroad  ?  This  can  best  be  answered  by 
concisely  presenting  some  of  them  :  Since  the  com 
pletion  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  the  popula 
tion  of  California  has  increased,  as  near  as  can 
be  computed,  not  less  than  330,000  souls.  To 
contribute  to  this  result,  during  the  period  of  ten 


A  MATCHLESS   ACHIEVEMENT.  167 

years,  this  road  has  brought  into  the  State,  in  addi 
tion  to  its  first-class  travel,  emigrants  to  the  number 
of  179,000.  Upon  the  basis  adopted  in  the  United 
States  Census  Department,  that  each  new  emigrant 
gives  a  permanent  addition  to  the  general  common 
wealth  of  not  less  than  $1,000 ;  and  admitting  that 
many  of  these  immigrants  might  have  otherwise 
come  here  by  sea,  and  that  the  railroads  cannot 
claim  the  unqualified  credit  of  their  movement; 
yet,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  cheap,  speedy  railroad 
facilities  offered  across  the  continent,  and  to  a  State 
also  in  full  tide  of  development  through  its  railroad 
system,  gives  the  managers  of  the  Central  Pacific 
Railroad  and  its  connecting  lines  and  branches  the 
right  to  claim  a  share  in  producing  this  gross  con 
tribution  upon  the  basis  of  $179,000,000. 

Estimates  from  the  passenger  department  of  the 
Central  Pacific  Railroad  show  that,  for  the  ten 
years  ending  December,  1879,  the  passenger  move 
ment  by  rail  between  the  East  and  California 
amounted  to  625,429,  at  an  average  of  $95  currency. 
This  passenger  travel,  if  made  at  the  old  rates 
charged  by  steamer  or  stage  before  the  completion 
of  the  railroad,  would  have  cost  in  its  movement 
$89,240,000  more  than  it  actually  has  cost.  And 
from  the  freight  department,  for  the  same  period, 
from  calculations  showing  tonnage  and  cost  of  move 
ment  which  would  have  been,  applying  the  schedule 
rates  in  force  at  the -time  of  and  previous  to  the 
completion  of  the  railroad,  a  saving  i(in  theory)  is 
shown  of  $70,299,250 — an  aggregate  saving,  wholly 
due  to  the  existence  and  successful  working  of  the 
Central  Pacific  Railroad,  of  over  ($150,000,000) 
one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  for  trans 
portation  of  freight  and  passengers  alone.  By  the 
old  wearisome,  vexatious  and  dangerous  route  by 


168  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

sea  and  by  stage,  it  took  from  three  to  four  weeks 
from  New  York  to  San  Francisco,  and  cost  from 
$250  to  $400 ;  now  the  trip  is  safely  made  in  seven 
days  between  the  two  places  in  palatial  equipages, 
at  rates  only  a  little  more  than  half  of  those  pre 
sented  above.  One  of  the  most  striking  facts  in 
connection  with  this  statement  touching  passenger 
transportation  may  be  found  in  the  mortality  sta 
tistics  of  the  respective  modes  of  travel.  Out  of 
the  625,428  men,  women  and  children  carried 
over  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  as  passengers  since 
its  completion,  less  than  30  have  been  killed,  while 
out  of  the  same  number  carried  by  steamer  and 
stage,  nearly  7,000  persons  have  perished,  either 
from  the  arrow  of  the  savage,  the  fever  of  the 
Isthmus,  drowning  at  sea  or  other  accident.  During 
the  ten  years  ending  December  1st,  1879,  upwards 
of  44,000,000  of  people  have  been  carried  across 
the  Oakland  ferry  without  a  single  serious  accident 
for  which  the  Company  could  be  blamed. 

By  the  United  States  census  of  1870  the  assessed 
valuation  of  all  the  property  within  the  State  of 
California  is  marked  at  about  $270,000,000.  The 
last  report  of  the  State  Board  of  Equalization 
shows  the  assessed  value  of  all  property  to  have 
increased  from  that  of  1870  by  nearly  $500,000,000  ; 
to  which  result  the  operations  of  the  Central  Pacific 
Railroad  may  justly  claim  to  have  largely  contrib 
uted.  At  the  time-  of  the  completion  of  the  road 
the  total  valuation  shown  by  the  United  States 
census  for  1870,  within  the  counties  now  occupied 
by  the  various  railroad  lines  of  the  State,  excepting 
San  Francisco,  aggregated  but  about  $122,000,000; 
they  have  since  increased  by  over  $196,000,000. 
This  is  largely  due  in  all  cases — and  in  some  coun 
ties  almost  exclusively  due— to  the  influence  of  the 


A   MATCHLESS   ACHIEVEMENT.  169 

railroads.  The  taxable  wealth  of  the  city  of  San 
Francisco,  at  the  time  of  the  completion  of  the 
Central  Pacific  Railroad  was  only  a  little  rising 
$100,000,000;  now  it  is  $250,000,000.  Indeed,  the 
impetus  given  by  bringing  so  much  larger  and  more 
profitable  country  and  interior  population  practi 
cally  at  the  doors  of  San  Francisco,  the  facility  of 
reaching  the  markets  of  the  far  interior,  Utah,  Mon 
tana,  Idaho,  and  even  across  the  Rocky  Mountains 
— has  directly  developed  the  resources  of  the  city 
of  San  Francisco  to  such  an  extent  that  the  value 
of  manufactured  articles  alone  was  in  1874-5,  ac 
cording  to  the  report  of  the  Surveyor-General  $18,- 
000,000  greater  than  in  1871-2,  upon  which  basis 
the  totals  of  the  average  yearly  increase  for  the 
eight  years  would  approximate  $100,000,000. 

In  the  five  years  preceding  the  full  opening,  for 
commercial  purposes,  of  the  Central  Pacific  Rail 
road,  the  total  valuation  of  wheat  and  flour  exports, 
as  shown  by  the  Surveyor-General's  reports,  was 
$41,875,000;  during  the  past  ten  years  the  valuation 
of  similar  exports  has  been  increased  by  over  $50,- 
000,000.  This  is  almost  wholly  due  to  the  develop 
ment  through  railroads  of  vast  areas  for  agricultural 
purposes  previously  not  within  profitable  reach  of 
market;  for  previous  to  the  commencement  of 
work  upon  the  overland  railway  wheat  growing 
was  confined  to  a  fringe  of  arable  lands  bordering 
the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  rivers,  and  to  a 
few  thousand  acres  here  and  there  accessible  by 
means  of  bay  and  ocean  transportation.  In  1863, 
with  no  railroads  to  speak  of,  California  produced 
but  4,000,000  bushels  of  wheat;  in  1879,  with 
nearly  2,000  miles  of  railway,  penetrating  nearly 
every  agricultural  county  in  the  State,  the  yield 
exceeded  40,000,000  bushels,  In  1863  the  total 


170  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

agricultural  product  of  California  was  $15,000,000; 
in  1879  it  had  reached  almost  $100,000,000.  In 
1863  the  total  assessed  value  of  property  was 
$160,000,000;  in  1879  it  had  grown  to  $900,000,000. 
In  1863  there  were  $8,300,000  deposited  in  the 
savings  banks  of  the  State;  in  1879  there  were 
$69,000,000  on  deposit. 

Coming  right  straight  from  theories  to  facts,  what 
has  the  building  and  the  operating  of  the  Central 
Pacific  Railroad  directly  done  for  California  and 
the  Pacific  Coast  generally?  In  the  first  place, 
more  than  $145,000,000  in  all  have  been  drawn 
from  abroad  for  purposes  of  construction  and  equip 
ment;  more  than  half  of  this  vast  sum  was  ex 
pended  in  the  State  of  California,  and  remained 
here;  and  may  to-day  be  traced  to  thousands  of 
happy  domestic  altars,  or  to  the  savings  banks  and 
other  monetary  institutions  and  enterprises.  In 
the  next  place,  nearly  $44,000,000  of  the  earnings 
of  this  railroad  and  its  connecting  lines  have  been 
disbursed  during  the  past  fourteen  years  in  salaries 
and  wages  to  employees,  and  for  supplies  furnished 
by  our  merchants,  manufacturers  and  farmers.  The 
actual  amount  paid  out  for  labor  alone  in  1876  was 
as  follows:  Amount  paid  for  white  labor  of  all 
kinds  to  4,859  men  was  $4,025,520 ;  amount  paid 
to  Chinamen  (1,718)  $661,728;  total  amount  dis 
bursed  in  year  for  labor  alone,  $4,687,248 ;  amount 
paid  white  men  over  Chinamen,  85  per  cent.  In 
1876  there  were  96  miles'  of  steel  rails  laid,  the 
manufacture  of  which  gave  employment  to  a  large 
number  of  men,  at  a  total  expense  for  labor  of 
many  thousands  of  dollars.  The  same  year  the 
cost  of  material  and  supplies,  not  including  rail 
road  iron,  was  $1,319,176.  During  the  month  of 
May,  1876,  there  were  on  the  pay-rolls  and  indirectly 


A  MATCHLESS   ACHIEVEMENT.  171 

employed,  8,817  men,  19  per  cent,  only  of  which 
were  Chinese ;  total  amount  of  money  disbursed  for 
labor  during  the  month  of  May,  1876,  $487,491,  89 
per  cent,  of  which  went  to  white  men  and  others 
than  Chinese.  During  the  three  years  ending  Sep 
tember  30th,  1877,  there  was  a  total  of  lumber  cut 
and  used  for  ties,  telegraph  poles,  piles,  shingles, 
fence  posts,  pickets,  boards,  etc.,  of  157,937,663  M 
feet.  During  the  year  ending  June  1,  1877,  there 
was  paid  out  for  iron,  hardware,  oils,  paints,  glass 
and  miscellaneous  articles,  $1 ,330,474. 1 6.  The  num 
ber  of  men  employed  by  the  Company  regularly 
during  the  year  1878  was  6,846 ;  the  amount  of 
money  paid  out  that  year  to  employees,  not  in 
cluding  officers,  $4,568,350.56;  miles  of  railway 
being  operated  June  30,  1879,  2,359  ;  miles  of  navi 
gation  upon  the  Sacramento  and  Colorado  rivers, 
659.  During  the  year  1878  there  was  paid  for  ad 
vertising  in  California  newspapers,  $15,238.55 ; 
amount  paid  same  year  for  job  printing  and  sta 
tionery,  $45,197.43.  The  taxes  paid  for  1878-9 
were  as  follows:  For  California,  $473,140.42; 
Nevada,  $119,098.95;  Utah,  $17,272.38;  Arizona, 
$1,786.19;  total,  $611,297.94;  also  school  taxes  to 
the  amount  of  $9,695.27. 

Proceeding  once  more  upon  a  line  of  theory,  it  is 
believed,  by  those  who  are  competent  to  judge, 
that  at  least  75,000  of  the  western-bound  travellers 
who  have  come  to  California  during  the  past  ten 
years,  were  persons  on  health  and  pleasure  bent, 
and  who  never  would  have  come  had  they  have 
been  compelled  to  endure  the  hardships,  the  loss  of 
time  and  inconveniences  of  an  ocean  trip  to  get 
here.  It  is  a  low  estimate  to  say  that  these  tourists 
expend  an  average  of  $300  each  in  this  State ;  but 
at  this  figure,  even,  these  Eastern  visitors  have 


172  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

added  over  $22,000,000  to  the  finances  of  the  Pa 
cific  Coast.  Proceeding  further,  a  careful  statistician 
estimates  that  at  least  50,000  Pacific  Coasters  have 
visited  the  Eastern  States  since  the  completion  of 
the  railroad,  who  would  have  made  the  trip  by 
steamer  had  there  been  no  railroad.  Had  there 
been  no  system  of  overland  transportation,  then, 
according  to  former  steamer  rates,  they  would  have 
had  to  pay  $300  each  way,  the  time  consumed  by  sea 
being  48  days.  Now,  as  a  round  trip  ticket  only 
costs  half  as  much  as  it  used  to  cost  by  sea,  and 
only  14  days  are  consumed  in  making  the  round 
trip,  the  saving  of  34  days  in  time,  and  the  amount 
saved  in  fares  shows  $20,000,000  retained  in  Cali 
fornia  and  elsewhere  upon  the  coast  by  reason  of  a 
Pacific  Railroad. 

The  benefits  that  have  accrued  to  the  Comstock 
lode  by  the  building  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad 
are  simply  incalculable.  In  18G2,  $15,000,000  was 
paid  for  the  transportation  of  freight  by  wagon 
from  Sacramento  to  Virginia ;  the  year  following 
the  completion  of  uninterrupted  railway  connection 
between  Sacramento  and  Virginia,  a  larger  amount 
of  freight  than  was  ever  handled  by  wagon  was 
carried  over  the  railroads  for  $1,250,000,  a  net  sav 
ing  of  nearly  $14,000,000.  This  immense  saving 
in  one  year  provided  mine  owners  and  other  opera 
tors  the  means  for  further  risks  and  explorations. 
It  is  eminently  safe  and  proper  to  presume  that  at 
least  two-thirds  of  the  gold  and  silver  mines  of 
California  and  Nevada,  now  being  successfully 
worked,  would  have  been  long  ago  abandoned,  and 
$100,000,000  of  the  $250,000,000  of  the  gold  and 
silver  added  'to  the  precious  metal  value  of  the 
world  during  the  past  few  years  would  have  never 
seen  the  light  of  day,  or  have  been  disturbed  in  its 


A  MATCHLESS   ACHIEVEMENT.  173 

subterranean  hiding  place,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
Central  Pacific  Railroad.  What  may  be  termed  the 
equilibrium  of  the  financial  world  is  perpetuated,  to 
a  great  extent,  by  the  annual  production  of  gold 
and  silver  by  the  Pacific  States  and  Territories  of 
the  United  States,  and  which  produced,  in  1878, 
$75,000,000,  an  amount  four  times  greater  than  the 
aggregated  annual  gold  and  silver  production  of  the 
world  previous  to  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Califor 
nia.  How  much  the  building  and  successful  oper 
ating  of  the  Pacific  Railroad  had,  and  has  to  do, 
with  the  annual  product  of  our  extensive  mining 
enterprises,  and  how  many  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  people  are  benefited  thereby,  cannot  be  accu 
rately  known;  it  is  enough  to  show  that,  by  the 
above  mathematical  facts  and  calculations,  the  Cen 
tral  Pacific  Railroad  is  one  of  the  most  important 
factors  in  connection  therewith. 

Perhaps  the  National  Government  is  the  greatest 
gainer,  after  all,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  following 
statistical  information  which  is  presented,  without 
any  attempt  at  apostrophe  or  embellishment :  As 
Senator  Stewart  once  said  in  a  speech  in  Congress, 
"  the  cost  of  Government  service  for  the  whole 
period,  from  the  acquisition  of  our  Pacific  Coast 
possessions,  down  to  the  completion  of  the  Pacific 
Railroad,  was  $8,000,000,  and  constantly  increas 
ing."  The  cost  to  the  General  Government  for 
transportation  of  mails,  troops  and  supplies  for  the 
year  preceding  the  completion  of  the  Central  and 
Union  Pacific  Railroads  was  nearly  $9,000,000. 
Since  the  completion  of  those  roads,  the  cash  amount 
paid  to  the  Companies  for  one-half  charge  of  trans 
portation,  per  year,  falls  below  $1,500,000  ;  add  to 
this  the  yearly  interest  paid  by  the  United  States 
Treasury  on  bonds  issued  in  behalf  of  the  two  rail- 


174  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

road  companies  of  $3,897,129,  and  there  is  a  direct 
saving  to  the  Government  of  nearly  $40,000,000. 

An  able  writer  upon  this  subject  states  that  the 
annual  tonnage  of  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joa- 
quin  rivers,  taken  together,  and  the  tonnage  that 
passes  through  the  Golden  Gate,  is  larger  now  than 
it  was  before  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  was  built ; 
just  as  more  business  was  done  over  the  Erie  Canal 
and  Hudson  River  after  the  completion  of  the  rail 
roads  alongside  of  them.  So  the  California  system 
of  railroads,  while  taking  to  themselves  and  build 
ing  up  a  vast  trade  and  commerce  of  their  own, 
they  have,  at  the  same  time,  diminished  in  no  way, 
the  aggregate  of  the  freight  transported  by  other 
channels.  It  was  said  of  the  Erie  Railroad,  that  in 
five  years  after  its  completion  it  was  transporting 
more  local  produce  than  was  ever  grown  in  the 
country  through  which  it  passed  before  the  road 
was  built.  And  this  may  be  said  with  equal  truth 
of  every  one  of  the  California  railroads;  that  in 
five  years  after  their  completion  the  local  freight 
annually  shipped  over  them  is  more  than  double  all 
that  was  produced  or  required  for  the  country 
through  which  they  ran  any  year  before  they  were 
built.  That  this  extensive  interior  commerce,  built 
up  entirely  by  our  railroads,  and  which  enriches  or 
benefits,  in  one  way  or  another,  every  honest  and 
industrious  inhabitant  in  California,  will  continue 
to  increase,  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  no  one  can 
doubt  who  examines  the  statistics  of  the  older 
States  that  commenced  building  railroads  twenty 
or  thirty  years  ago.'  The  wealth,  population  and 
prosperity  of  these  States  has  advanced  in  exact 
ratio  to  the  increase  of  their  railroad  facilities.  In 
view  of  the  above,  the  conclusion  is  arrived  at  that 
there  has  been  no  factor  so  potent  to  the  develop- 


A   MATCHLESS   ACHIEVEMENT.  175 

ment  of  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  States  of 
California  and  Nevada  as  their  railroads  ;  and  those 
men  who  had  the  skill  and  nerve  to  surmount  all 
the  difficulties  encountered,  and  who  have  managed 
these  stupendous  thoroughfares  from  the  first,  de 
serve  all  the  fame  and  remuneration  their  success 
has  brought  them  ;  for  every  step  taken  in  the  great 
work  was  adapted  to  ultimate  perfection,  and  to 
secure  to  the  State  and  to  the  Nation  a  grand  and 
complete  structure,  every  way  worthy  of  our  coun 
try  and  honorable  to  the  distinguished  men  who 
carried  to  completion  so  vast  an  enterprise. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  the  late  achievements  of 
this  Company  is  the  shortening  of  the  road  be 
tween  San  Francisco  and  Sacramento,  and  the  com 
pletion  of  the  monster  transfer  Solano,  which  runs 
between  Benicia  and  Port  Costa. 

For  a  long  time  the  railroad  authorities  had  in 
contemplation  the  shortening  of  their  route  between 
San  Francisco  and  Sacramento.  To  avoid  the  heavy 
grades  by  way  of  Livermore  Pass  and  the  detour 
necessary  to  reach  the  Capital  City,  via  San  Pablo 
and  Stockton,  had  been  an  object  which  called  for 
no  little  study  on  the  part  of  the  Company's 
engineer.  They  finally  settled  upon  the  route  by 
way  of  Benicia,  which  has  the  advantage  of  being 
fifty-five  miles  shorter  than  the  Livermore  route, 
and  sixty-six  miles  less  than  by  San  Pablo  and 
Stockton,  besides  offering  easy  grades.  The  next 
thing  was  to  cross  the  Straits  of  Carquinez.  It  was 
finally  decided  to  construct  a  ferry-boat  which 
would  be  capable  of  transporting  a  large  number  of 
freight-cars,  or  take  on  board  a  passenger  train. 

With  this  idea  in  view,  the  plans  for  the  Solano 
were  drawn,  and  early  in  February,  1879,  her  keel 
was  laid,  and  the  work  of  construction  pushed  so 


176  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

rapidly  forward  that  she  was  launched  in  the  middle 
of  July,  following.  She  is  of  the  same  length  as 
the  City  of  Tokio,  and  has  the  greatest  breadth  of 
beam  of  any  vessel  afloat.  Her  dimensions  are  as 
follows:  Length  over  all,  424  feet;  length  on  bot 
tom — shs  has  no  keel — 406  feet ;  height  of  sides  in 
centre,  18  feet  5  inches ;  height  of  sides  at  each 
end,  from  bottom  of  boat,  15  feet  10  inches; 
moulded  beam,  64  feet ;  extreme  width  over  guards, 
116  feet ;  width  of  guards  at  centre  of  boat,  25  feet 
6  inches  ;  reverse  sheer  of  deck,  2J  feet.  She  has 
two  vertical  beam  engines  of  60-inch  bore  and 
11 -inch  stroke,  built  by  Harlan  &  Rollings  worth, 
at  Wilmington,  Delaware.  The  engines  have  a 
nominal  horse  power  of  1,500  horses  each,  but  are 
capable  of  being  worked  up  to  2,000  horse-power 
each.  The  wheels  are  thirty  feet  in  diameter,  and 
the  face  of  the  buckets,  17  feet.  There  are  24 
buckets  in  each  wheel,  30  inches  deep.  She  has  8 
steel  boilers,  each  being  of  the  following  dimensions  : 
Length  over  all,  28  feet ;  diameter  of  shell,  7  feet ; 
143  tubes,  16  feet  long  by  4  inches  in  diameter, 
each ;  heating  surface,  1,227  feet ;  entire  grate  sur 
face,  1,792  feet.  The  boilers  are  made  in  pairs,  with 
one  steam  smokestack  to  each  pair,  5  feet  and  5  inches 
in  diameter.  She  has  4  iron  fresh-water  tanks,  each 
20  feet  long  and  6  feet  in  diameter.  Among  other 
novelties  in  her  construction  are  four  Pratt  trusses, 
arranged  fore  and  aft,  varied  in  size  to  meet  the 
strain  upon  them.  These  give  longitudinal  stiffness 
and  connect  the  deck  and  bottom  of  the  boat,  mak 
ing  her  in  reality  a  huge  floating  bridge.  Her 
registered  tonnage  is  3,541  31-100 'tons.  Her  hull 
is  scow-shaped,  and  similar  in  model  to  the  ordinary 
stern- wheel  river  steamboat.  She  is  a  double-ender, 
and  at  each  end  has  four  balanced  rudders,  each  11 J 


A  MATCHLESS   ACHIEVEMENT.  177 

feet  long  and  5|  feet  in  depth.  They  are  con 
structed  with  coupling  rods,  and  each  has  one  king 
pin  in  the  centre  for  the  purpose  of  holding  it  in 
place.  The  rudders  are  worked  by  an  hydraulic 
steering  gear,  operated  by  an  independent  steam 
pump.  These  rudders  are  connected  with  the  or 
dinary  steering  gear,  so  that  in  case  of  any  disar 
rangement  of  the  hydraulic  apparatus,  the  vessel 
may  be  guided  by  it.  The  advantage  of  this  im 
provement  is  that  the  immense  craft  can  be  handled 
with  ease  by  one  man,  whereas,  if  the  ordinary 
wheel  and  system  of  steering  was  used,  it  would 
require  six  men  at  the  wheel.  The  engines,  instead 
of  being  placed  abreast  of  each  other,  are  placed 
fore  and  aft  in  the  boat.  The  object  of  this  innova 
tion  is  to  give  room  for  four  tracks  on  the  deck. 
The  shafts  are  sixteen  feet  from  centre  to  centre. 
The  engines  are  entirely  independent,  each  opera 
ting  one  wheel.  This  arrangement  of  the  engines 
and  paddles  makes  the  boat  more  easily  handled 
entering  or  leaving  the  slips,  or  turning  quickly 
when  required,  as  one  wheel  can  be  made  to  go 
ahead  and  the  other  to  reverse  at  the  same  time. 
One  wheel  is  placed  eight  feet  forward,  and  the 
other  eight  feet  abaft  the  centre  of  the  boat.  The 
boilers  are  placed  in  pairs,  on  the  guards,  forward 
and  abaft  the  paddle-boxes,  and  each  pair  is  entirely 
independent  of  the  other,  so  that  the  boat  can  be 
run  with  any  number  required.  There  are  eleven 
water-tight  bulkheads,  dividing  the  hull  into  eleven 
water-tight  compartments..  Besides  rendering  her 
absolutely  secure  from  all  danger  of  sinking,  these 
bulk-heads  tend  to  strengthen  as  well  as  stiffen  the 
vessel.  Upon  the  deck  of  the  Solano  are  four 
tracks  extending  her  entire  length,  with  a  capacity 
for  carrying  forty-eight  loaded  freight  cars,  or 


178  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

twenty-four  passenger  coaches  of  the  largest  class. 
In  the  hold  are  commodious  quarters  for  the  officers 
and  crew,  and  on  the  main  deck  is  a  restaurant  and 
bar,  besides  rooms  for  the  transaction  of  railroad 
business  at  each  end  of  the  two  houses  which  cover 
the  boilers. 

The  pilot  houses  are  40  feet  above  the  main 
deck,  and  afford  the  helmsman  a  clear  view,  fore 
and  aft,  of  the  boat.  There  are  four  bridges  run 
ning  athwartships,  and  another  fore  and  aft,  con 
necting  the  pilot  houses,  between  which  is  quite  a 
little  journey.  There  are  two  anchors  at  each  end. 
Her  draught,  light,  is  five  feet ;  when  loaded  she 
will  draw  six  feet  six  inches.  At  one  time,  during 
her  trial-trip,  with  thirty  pounds  of  steam,  she 
made  sixteen  and  eighteen  revolutions  per  minute, 
averaging  about  seven  miles  and  a-half  an  hour,  with 
a  strong  ebb  tide  against  her.  The  boilers  have  been 
tested  for  fifty  pounds,  and  are  good  for  seventy- 
five  pounds  of  steam.  She  has  two  complete  sets 
of  officers  and  two  crews — one  being  on  duty  one 
day  and  the  other  the  next.  The  aprons  which 
connect  the  Solano  with  the  dock  at  Benicia 
and  Port  Costa  are  each  100  feet  long,  with  four 
tracks  on  each,  so  arranged  that  freight  and  pas 
senger  trains  are  taken  on  board  without  being 
uncoupled  from  the  locomotive.  These  aprons  are 
each  150  tons  in  weight,  and  are  worked  by  a  com 
bination  of  pontoon  and  counter-weights.  The 
mooring  apparatus  is  worked  by  stationary  hydraulic 
power,  similar  in  design  to  that  used  on  board  of 
the  boat  for  steering  gear. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  state  that  Governor  Leland 
Stanford,  President  of  the  Central  Pacific,  permits 
no  invention  nor  improvement  calculated  to  ensure 
speed,  safety  or  comfort  in  the  running  of  trains,  to 


A  MATCHLESS  ACHIEVEMENT.  179 

be  overlooked  ;  steel  rails  have  taken  the  place  of 
iron  ones  ;  all  trains  are  run  with  the  Miller  buffer 
and-  coupler  and  Westinghouse  atmospheric  brake  ; 
all  train  men  and  yard  men  and  switchmen,  as  well 
as  engineers  and  conductors,  and  all  others  connected 
with  the  running  of  trains,  must  be  sober,  indus 
trious,  reliable  men ;  the  ferry  boats  and  slips  and 
freight  transfers,  passenger  and  sleeping-cars  are 
among  the  best,  if  not,  indeed,  the  very  best  in 
America ;  and  this  is  not  all — Governor  Stanford, 
in  the  goodness  of  his  heart,  has  for  a  long  time 
given  attention  to  the  wants  and  comforts  of  what 
are  termed  second  and  third-class  passengers,  and 
has  had  manufactured  a  large  number  of  sleeping 
cars  for  the  transportation  of  immigrants  and  emi 
grants  to  and  from  the  East,  and  which  are  a  great 
improvement  on  anything  in  use  elsewhere.  These 
new  cars  have  upper  and  lower  berths,  somewhat 
after  the  manner  of  caboose  cars.  The  upper  berths 
swing  freely  on  iron  rods,  and  when  not  in  use  can 
be  hung  up  on  the  roof  of  the  car,  where  they  are 
not  in  the  way.  The  lower  berths  are  formed  from 
the  seats,  which  are  made  up  after  the  manner  of 
first-class  sleepers — by  turning  down  their  backs, 
etc.  This  is  a  great  convenience  to  persons  travel 
ing  third-class ;  as,  generally,  they  are  compelled  to 
sit  up  or  make  shift  as  best  they  can.  The  only 
difference  between  these  cars  and  the  first-class 
sleepers  is  that  the  former  is  not  upholstered. 

One  of  the  most  costly  improvements  now  in 
progress  is  that  being  made  by  the  Central  Pacific 
Railroad  Company,  at  Long  Wharf.  The  informa 
tion  is  obtained  from  Mr.  Montague,  the  engineer  in 
charge  of  the  work,  and  may  therefore  be  consid 
ered  as  trustworthy.  The  causeway,  already  con 
structed,  has  a  uniform  width  of  75  feet  on  its  top. 


180  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

This  width  is  carried  out  into  the  bay  for  a  distance 
of  5,400  feet  from  the  main  land,  when  it  gradually 
widens  until  it  attains  the  width  of  280  feet  at 
the  head,  at  which  point  new  passenger  slips  and  a 
new  depot  (the  latter  to  cost  about  a  quarter  of  a 
million  of  dollars)  are  now  being  constructed,  and 
will  be  completed  in  a  few  months.  These  will  be 
a  mile  and  a-quarter  from  the  main  land.  There 
will  be  four  tracks  on  the  causeway — two  for  local 
and  two  for  through  traffic.  When  the  new  slips 
are  built  a  new  arrangement  will  be  made  with  re 
gard  to  the  local  trains.  Passengers  from  the  city 
will  not  take  the  train  just  vacated  by  passengers 
from  Oakland,  as  there  will  be  separate  trains  for 
each,  and  thus  the  jostle  and  confusion  usual  at  the 
landing  of  a  boat  at  present  will  be  avoided.  The 
local  trips  will  be  extended  via  Brooklyn  to  Fruit- 
vale,  where  the  line  will  join  the  Alameda  line  and 
complete  a  circuit  embracing  Oakland,  Brooklyn, 
Fruitvale  and  Alameda.  I  might  proceed  still 
further  with  statements  showing  the  marvellous 
good  faith  exhibited  by  this  great  Trans-continental 
Thoroughfare,  but  the  present  sketch  is  enough  to 
give  a  good  idea  of  what  I  am  pleased  to  term,  "  A 
MATCHLESS  ACHIEVEMENT." 


OS* 


A  SENSATION  IN  THE  ORANGE  GROVES. 


There  had  long  been  a  sensation  in  the  orange 
groves  of  Los  Angeles  county,  on  account  of  the 
presence  there  of  the  notorious  Tiburcio  Vasquez. 
On  the  16th  day  of  May,  1874,  at  4:30  P.  M.  as  the 
Clerk  of  the  City  Council  of  Los  Angeles  was  about 
to  read  the  last  communication  to  that  body,  an  un 
usual  stir  outside  attracted  quick  attention,  and  in 
a  moment  more  City  Fathers,  City  Clerk,  City  Sur 
veyor,  City  Reporters,  and  everybody  else  in  the 
room,  were  making  for  the  front  door.  Instinctively 
I  supposed  Vasquez  had  something  to  do  with  the 
hegira,  and  I  was  right.  Vasquez  was  lying  pale 
and  bloody  in  a  light  wagon,  in  front  of  the  entrance 
to  the  city  jail.  A  surging  crowd  was  gathering 
around.  Two  men  who  were  taken  in  his  company, 
at  the  time  of  the  capture,  were  hurried  into  jail  and 
locked  up.  In  a  moment  after,  Vasquez,  himself, 
was  lifted  from  the  wagon  and  was  borne  into  the 
city  prison.  Dr.  Wise  soon  after  presented  himself ; 
and,  assisted  by  several  other  medical  gentlemen  of 
the  city,  rendered  the  wounded  robber  such  surgical 
services  as  he  required.  The  result  of  the  examina 
tion  showed  a  buckshot  in  his  left  arm,  one  in  the 
left  leg,  one  in  the  left  side  of  his  head,  one  in  front 
of  the  pectoral  region,  passing  out  under  the  left 
arm,  and  one  in  the  right  arm.  The  balls  were  ex 
tracted,  the  wounds  pronounced  not  dangerous,  and 


182  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

opinion  expressed  that  he  would  be  well  in  a  few 
days. 

During  the  time  referred  to,  Mr.  Charles  Miles, 
who  had  been  robbed  by  Vasquez  near  San  Gabriel, 
a  few  weeks  before,  entered  the  room.  He  was  at 
once  recognized  by  the  wounded  man — in  fact,  the 
recognition  was  mutual.  Mr.  Hartley,  the  Chief  of 
Police  of  the  City  of  Los  Angeles,  had  taken  Mr. 
Miles'  watch  into  his  keeping.  It  was  returned  to 
the  proper  owner.  Mr.  M.'s  chain  was  missing,  how 
ever  ;  Vasquez  said  nothing  about  it  at  the  time ; 
but,  after  Dr.  Wise  and  his  associates  had  dressed 
his  wounds,  he  requested  Dr.  Wise  to  take  his  porte- 
monnaie  from  his  pocket.  It  was  done,  and  Vas 
quez  opened  it,  and  handed  the  missing  chain  to 
Dr.  W.,  and  requested  him  to  return  it  to  its  rightful 
owner.  He  remarked,  " it  belongs  to  him,  now" 
emphasizing  the  last  word,  as  much  as  to  say,  "  he 
might  have  whistled  for  it  if  they  had  not  caught 
me."  While  his  wounds  were  being  dressed,  Mr.  B. 
F.  Hartley,  Chief  of  Police,  one  of  his  captors, 
asked  him  why  he  (Vasquez)  had  asked  him  (Hart 
ley)  what  his  name  was.  Quoth  Vasquez,  "  Usted 
es  un  hombre  valiente  lo  mismo  que  yo."  (You  are 
a  brave  man  like  myself.)  He  bore  the  probing  and 
opening  of  his  wounds  without  a  murmur.  In 
personal  appearance,  this  robber  chief  was  anything 
but  remarkable.  Take  away  the  expression  of  his 
eyes,  furtive,  snaky,  and  cunning,  and  he  would 
have  passed  unnoticed  in  a  crowd.  Not  more  than 
five  feet  seven  inches  in  height,  and  of  very  spare 
build,  he  looked  little  like  a  man  who  could  create 
a  reign  of  terror.  His  forehead  was  low  and 
slightly  retreating  to  where  it  was  joined  by  a  thick 
mass  of  raven  black  and  very  coarse  hair ;  his  mus 
tache  was  by  no  means  luxuriant,  his  chin  whiskers 


A   SENSATION   IN   THE   OKANGE   GROVES.       183 

passably  full ;  and  his  sunken  cheeks  were  only 
lightly  sprinkled  with  beard;  his  lips  thin  and 
bloodless ;  his  teeth  white,  even  and  firm  ;  his  left 
eye  slightly  sunken.  He  had  small  and  elegantly 
shaped  feet.  Perhaps  130  pounds  was  as  much  as 
he  weighed.  His  light  build  made  it  an  easy  task 
for  the  horse  that  bore  him  to  perform  forced 
marches.  The  reign  of  terror  which  he  had  been 
answerable  for  was  at  an  end.  No  attempt  was 
made  to  interfere  with  the  law  by  the  crowd 
which  surrounded  the  jail.  A  feeling  more  of  relief 
than  of  revenge  or  exultation  seemed  to  be  upper 
most  in  the  minds  of  all.  The  history  of  the  cap 
ture  of  Vasquez  forms  one  of  the  most  interesting 
chapters  that  has  ever  been  written.  The  captured 
robber  had  defied  pursuit,  mocked  at  strategy,  and 
eluded  for  months  the  skill  of  the  bravest  and  most 
celebrated  detectives  on  the  coast.  Once  afoot  or  on 
horseback,  with  three  hours  the  start  of  his  pur 
suers,  Cuban  bloodhounds  would  not  have  compassed 
his  capture.'  A  sudden,  well  arranged  surprise  was 
the  only  chance  to  secure  him.  It  had  been  effected, 
and  in  the  manner  hereinafter  related. 

After  the  futile  pursuit  of  the  robber  up  the  Te- 
junga  Pass,  a -short  time  before,  Mr.  Wm.  Rowland, 
Sheriff  of  Los  Angeles  county,  came  to  the  conclu 
sion  that  any  further  prosecution  of  the  quest  in 
that  manner  and  direction  was  a  waste  of  time, 
energy  and  money.  His  subordinates  were  ordered 
to  desist,  and  many  and  loud  were  the  complaints 
lodged  against  him  for  inaction  and  inefficiency. 

Mr.  Rowland,  however,  kept  on  in  the  even  tenor 
of  his  way ;  and,  availing  himself  of  every  possible 
source  of  information,  at  length  became  satisfied 
that  the  long- sough t-for  prize  was  within  his  grasp, 
and  he  quietly  arranged  for  a  capture.  On  Wed- 


184  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

nesday  night,  May  loth,  the  evening  before  the  cap 
ture,  he  received  positive  information  of  the  where 
abouts  of  Tiburcio  Vasquez.  He  had  kept  for  some 
time  a  list  of  names  from  which  to  choose  a  posse  to 
undertake  the  arrest.  He  organized  his  party  as 
follows:  Mr.  Albert  Johnston,  Under  Sheriff;  Major 
H.  M.  Mitchell,  attorney-at-law,  of  Los  Angeles ; 
Mr.  J.  S.  Bryant,  City  Constable ;  Mr.  E.  Harris, 
policeman  ;  Mr.  W.  E.  Rogers,  of  the  Palace  Saloon  ; 
Mr.  D.  K.  Smith,  a  citizen  of  the  county  ;  Mr.  B. 
F.  Hartley,  Chief  of  Police  and  Deputy  City  Mar 
shal,  and  Mr.  Beers,  of  San  Francisco,  the  special 
correspondent  of  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle. 
Sheriff'  Rowland  intended  to  accompany  his  men,  but 
his  informant  told  him  emphatically  that,  if  he  left 
the  city  and  was  not  seen  early  in  the  morning,  un 
less  Vasquez  was  captured  at  the  earliest  hour,  the 
game  would  break  cover  and  be  over  the  hills  and 
far  away.  The  sequel,  as  shown  by  the  arrest  of 
Greek  George,  which  I  will  refer  to  again,  proved 
the  soundness  of  the  advice.  The  horses  for  the 
pursuing  party  were  sent,  one  by  one,  on  Wednesday 
evening  to  the  corral  of  Mr.  Jones,  on  Spring  street, 
near  Sixth.  One  by  one  the  above  party  met  at 
the  rendezvous  ;  and  at  1:30  A.  M.  on  Thursday  the 
gallant  eight  were  in  the  saddle  and  on  their  way 
to  the  spot,  which  for  many  years  will  be  pointed 
out  as  the  scene  of  a  stirring  incident. 

Greek  George's  ranch  lies  about  ten  miles  due 
west  from  Los  Angeles.  It  is  situated  at  the  base 
of  a  mountain,  one  of  a  series  of  semi-detached 
spurs,  between  which  there  are  a  dozen  trails,  known 
only  to  the  habitues  of  that  section,  which  afford 
egress  to  the  San  Fernando  plains.  The  dwelling- 
house  on  the  ranch  is  an  old  adobe,  forming  a  letter 
L,  the  foot  of  the  letter  facing  the  mountain  range, 


A  SENSATION  IN  THE  ORANGE  GROVES.    185 

the  shank  lying  north  and  south.  Behind  the  house, 
and  butr  ^  short  distance  from  it,  runs  a  compara 
tively  disused  road,  leading  from  the  San  Vicente 
through  La  Brea  Ranch o,  and  thence  to  Los  An 
geles — behind  this  road  the  mountains,  and  in  front 
of  the  house  a  small  monte  of  willows  grown  up 
around  a  spring,  and  beyond  these  a  rolling  plain 
stretching  to  the  ocean.  At  the  northern  end  of  the 
building  was  a  room  used  by  the  robber  as  a  store 
room  and  as  a  lookout.  A  window  facing  the  north, 
afforded  him  an  outlook  for  miles  to  the  east  (to 
ward  the  city),  and  for  a  good  distance  west.  There 
was  no  chance  for  an  ordinary  surprise  for  armed 
horsemen  from  either  direction.  The  middle  section 
of  the  western  part  (the  shank)  of  the  house,  was 
used  as  a  dining-room,  where  the  bandit  was  eating 
when  surprised,  surrounded  and  captured.  A  small 
apartment  at  the  south  end  was  used  as  a  kitchen,  in 
which  there  was  a  small  opening  through  which  Vas- 
quez  made  a  leap  for  life  when  he  found  himself  in 
the  toils.  His  horse  was  staked  out  a  few  rods  to 
the  northwest  of  the  building  when  the  event  oc 
curred.  Let  us  see  how  the  capture  was  effected : 

As  before  stated,  the  pursuers  left  Los  Angeles  at 
1:30,  Thursday  morning.  About  4  A.  M.,  they  ar 
rived  at  the  bee  ranch  of  Major  Mitchell,  one  of  the 
party.  There  they  took  breakfast,  and  held  a 
council  of  war.  The  bee  ranch  is  up  a  small 
canon,  off  the  usual  lines  of  travel,  visited  occa 
sionally  by  neighboring  ranchmen  for  wood.  After 
consultation,  Messrs.  Albert  Johnston,  Mitchell,  and 
Bryant  left  the  party  and  followed  a  mountain 
road  about  one  mile  and  a  half,  until  they  came  to 
a  point  opposite  Greek  George's  ranch.  Turning 
square  north  they  climbed  to  a  point  where,  with  a 
field  glass,  they  could  obtain  an  unobstructed  view 


186  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

of  the  covert.  A  heavy  fog  rendered  satisfactory 
observations  impracticable  for  hours.  When  it  lift 
ed  they  saw  enough  to  convince  them  that  their 
game  was  at  the  very  point  designated.  A  horse 
answering  the  description  of  that  ridden  by  the 
outlaw  was  picketed  out  as  above  stated.  Twice 
they  saw  a  man,  answering  the  description  of  Vas 
quez,  leading  him  to  the  monte,  and  returning, 
picket  him  out  as  before.  Another  man  on  horse 
back  went  in  pursuit  of  a  white  horse  which  tallied 
with  the  description  given  of  a  horse  belonging  to 
the  gang.  Various  plans  for  the  capture  of  Vasquez 
were  discussed  by  the  trio,  but  finally  it  was  de 
cided  that  Mr.  Johnston  should  return  to  the  bee 
ranch  and  marshal  his  forces,  while  Mitchell  and 
Smith  went  in  pursuit  of  the  horseman  referred  to, 
they  believing  him  to  be  Chaves,  the  Lieutenant  of 
Vasquez. 

Arrived  there,  unexpectedly,  and  it  almost  seems 
providentially  sent,  allies  presented  themselves.  A 
wagon  driven  by  a  Calif ornian,  and  in  which  there 
was  another  man  (also  a  native),  was  driven  up, 
from  the  direction  of  Greek  George's.  It  was  a  box 
wagon.  It  was  not  long  before  the  plan  of  .capture 
was  decided  upon.  Six  of  the  party  remained. 
The  extra  man  with  the  wagon  made  seven.  Mr. 
Hartley,  who  spoke  Spanish  fluently,  was  instructed 
to  inform  the  driver  that  he  was  to  turn  his  horses' 
heads,  allow  all  six  of  the  party  and  his  extra  man 
to  lie  down  in  the  wagon  bed,  and  then  drive  back 
to  Greek  George's,  and  as  close  to  the  house  as  pos 
sible  ;  that  if  he  gave  a  sign  or  made  an  alarm,  his 
life  would  pay  the  forfeit.  In  due  time  the  house 
was  reached.  In  a  moment  the  men  were  out  of 
the  wagon  and  on  their  feet  with  shot-guns  and 
rifles  cocked  and  ready  for  what  might  offer.  Mr. 


A   SENSATION    IN   THE   ORANGE   GROVES.       187 

Hartley  and  Mr.  Beers  went  to  the  west  side  of 
the  house,  the  other  four  to  the  southern,  passing 
round  the  eastern  end.  The  foremost  of  the  latter 
had  hardly  reached  the  door  opening  into  the  din 
ing-room,  when  a  woman  opened  it  partly.  Seeing 
the  armed  "  quartette "  approaching,  she  gave  an 
exclamation  of  fright,  and  attempted  to  close  it. 
The  party  burst  in,  Mr.  Harris  leading  the  way,  and 
seeing  the  retreating  form  of  the  prize  they  sought 
leaving  the  table,  and  plunging  through  the  door 
leading  into  the  kitchen. 

Harris  was  close  upon  his  heels,  and  Vasquez, 
with  the  agility  of  a  mountain  cat,  had  jumped 
through  the  narrow  window,  or  rather  opening 
which  admitted  the  light,  when  Harris  fired  at  the 
vanishing  form  with  his  Henry  rifle,  exclaiming, 
"  There  he  goes,  through  the  window  ! "  The  party 
left  the  house  as  precipitatedly  as  they  entered  it. 
Vasquez  stood  for  a  second  of  time  irresolute. 
Whether  to  seek  cover  in  the  monte  or  rush  for  his 
horse,  seemed  the  all  important  question.  He 
seemed  to  decide  for  the  horse — doubtless  he  would 
have  given  ten  kingdoms  if  he  had  had  them,  to  be 
astride  of  him — and  started,  when  Mr.  Harris  fired ; 
turning,  he  sought  another  direction,  when  one  after 
another,  shot  after  shot,  showed  him  the  utter  hope 
lessness  of  escape.  He  had  already  been  wounded, 
just  how  severely  I  have  already  told.  He  had 
fallen,  but  recovered  himself  ;  blood  was  spouting 
from  his  shoulder  and  streaming  from  other  wounds. 
He  threw  up  his  hands,  approached  the  party,  and 
said,  with  a  cold,  passionate  smile  wreathing  his  thin 
lips,  "  Boys,  you  have  done  well ;  I  have  been  a 
fool ;  but  it  is  all  my  own  fault."  He  was  taken  to 
the  court-yard  on  the  southern  side  of  the  house, 
and  laid  upon  an  extemporized  pallet.  Not  a  mur- 


188  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

mur,  scarce  a  contortion  of  the  visage,  bespoke 
either  pain,  remorse,  or  any  other  emotion  of  the 
mind  or  soul.  Mr.  Beers  said  to  me  on  the  evening 
of  the  capture  :  "  While  looking  for  his  wounds,  I 
placed  my  hand  over  his  heart,  and  found  its  pulsa 
tions  gave  no  signs  of  excitement.  His  eye  was 
bright,  and  there  was  a  pleasant  smile  on  his  face, 
and  no  tremor  in  his  voice.  He  was  polite  and 
thankful  for  every  attention.  Although  he  thought 
and  said  that  he  was  about  to  die — '  Gone  up,'  as 
he  expressed  it — his  expression  of  countenance  was 
one  of  admiration  of  our  determined  attack  and 
our  good  luck." 

The  house  was  entered,  and  a  young  man  was 
captured  in  the  north  room  before  described.  This 
was  the  arsenal  of  the  robber  gang.  Three  Henry 
rifles  and  one  Spencer,  all  of  the  latest  patterns  and 
finest  workmanship,  besides  other  arms,  were  found 
there  and  taken  possession  of.  Major  Mitchell  and 
Mr.  Smith  overhauled  the  party  they  went  in  pur 
suit  of,  and  brought  him  back.  I  have  stated  that 
it  was  well  that  Mr.  Rowland  did  not  start  out  with 
the  party.  Greek  George,  whose  real  name  is 
George  Allen,  was  designated  as  the  party  who  was 
harboring  Vasquez.  Vasquez  was  found  there,  that 
is  certain.  Allen  was  in  town  Wednesday  night, 
and  while  he  supposed  he  was  watching  Rowland's 
movements,  he  was  being  watched  with  a  degree  of 
wide-awakefulness  he  could  hardly  conceive  of. 
He  was  solicitously  attended  in  his  peregrinations 
throughout  the  city  all  that  day.  Had  he  attempted 
to  revisit  his  suburban  home  before  the  consumma 
tion  of  Sheriff  Rowland's  plans,  he  would  have 
learned  the  meaning  of  a  writ  of  ne  exeat  which 
would  unquestionably  have  been  extemporized  for 
the  occasion. 


A  SENSATION  IN  THE  ORANGE  GROVES.   189 

As  it  was,  when  his  distinguished  sometime  guest 
had  been,  by  the  physicians  in  attendance,  prepared 
to  receive  visitors,  Mr.  Allen  was  taken  into  his 
presence  by  Sheriff  Rowland.  He  was  so  much 
affected  by  the  sight  that  he  forgot  to  express  his 
sympathy.  Had  Mr.  Rowland  not  been  seen  by 
Mr.  Allen  Wednesday,  the  latter  would  probably 
have  remembered  something  which  required  his 
presence  at  the  ranch.  Too  much  praise  can  never 
be  awarded  to  Sheriff  Rowland  for  the  quiet  but 
effective  manner  in  which  he  carried  out  his  well- 
conceived  plans.  It  would  simply  be  invidious  to 
attempt  to  particularize  any  member  of  the  cap 
turing  party.  All  that  I  was  able  to  learn  upon  the 
subject,  from  any  and  every  source,  went  to  show 
that  each  and  every  man  acted  with  consummate 
courage,  coolness  and  discretion.  To  all  intents 
and  purposes  the  approach  to  the  house  where  the 
capture  was  effected  was  a  deliberate  approach  to  a 
masked  battery.  That  Vasquez  was  there,  was  a 
matter  which  admitted  of  no  doubt.  How  many 
of  his  fellow  desperadoes  were  with  him,  no  man 
of  the  party  could  know.  How  well  he  was  pre 
pared  to  "  welcome  them  with  bloody  hands  to 
hospitable  graves,"  nobody  could  doubt;  but,  de 
termined  to  capture  him,  if  possible,  they  "  went 
for  him,"  and  they  got  him. 

His  coolness  in  the  hour  of  capture,  the  fortitude 
and  the  uncomplaining  stoicism  with  which  he  bore 
his  wounds,  all  went  to  show  that,  whatever  opinion 
as  to  his  bravery  may  have  become  current  with  the 
public,  he  was  a  man  who  would  have  sold  his  life 
dearly  if  he  had  had  a  ghost  of  a  show.  I  verily 
believe  if  he  had  had  a  knife  or  pistol  on  his  per 
son  he  would  have  sought  and  found  death  rather 
than  capture.  No  posse  of  armed  men  could  have 


190  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

approached  the  well  chosen  fastness  which  he  had 
selected.  Strategy  and  a  fortunate  concurrence  of 
circumstances  placed  him  in  the  power  of  the  law. 

While  being  carried  into  town  he  exchanged 
notes  with  Major  Mitchell  relative  to  the  Tejunga 
Pass  pursuit.  He  told  the  Major  that  twice  during 
the  pursuit  he  was  near  enough  to  kill  him  and  his 
party  if  he  had  desired  so  to  do,  and  convinced 
Major  Mitchell  of  the  truth  of  his  assertion.  Vas- 
quez  protested  that  he  had  never  killed  a  man ;  that 
the  murders  at  Tres  Pinos  were  committed  before 
his  arrival ;  but  he  admitted  that  he  led  the  party 
who  committed  the  outrages  away  from  that  point. 
After  his  capture  he  inquired  who  was  the  leader  of 
the  party,  and,  upon  being  told  that  Mr.  Albert 
Johnston  was,  he  delivered  to  him  his  memorandum 
book,  and  commenced  to  make  a  statement  to  him, 
not  knowing  at  the  time  but  that  his  wounds  were 
mortal. 

His  first  declaration  related  to  his  two  children; 
when,  the  preparations  for  the  march  to  the  city 
being  completed,  the  record  was  abruptly  brought 
to  a  close.  He  showed  Mr.  Johnston  the  photo 
graphs  of  the  children,  and  enclosed  in  the  same 
envelope  with  them  was  a  wavy  tress  of  black  and 
silky  hair,  bound  in  a  blue  ribbon.  This  he  re 
quested  Mr.  Johnston  to  preserve  carefully  and  return 
to  him  when  he  should  require  or  demand  it.  What 
secret  heart  history  was  bound  up  with  that  mute 
memorial  of  days  when  perhaps  the  outlaw  had  his 
dream  of  home  and  all  that  makes  life  beautiful,  no 
one  can  tell. 

At  a  late  hour  I  visited  him  in  prison.  Lying 
upon  his  pallet,  to  all  human  appearances  a  doomed 
man,  a  price  set  upon  his  head,  an  outlaw  and  an 
outcast,  he  received  me  and  a  number  of  other 


A  SENSATION  IN  THE  ORANGE  GROVES.   191 

visitors  with  an  ease  and  grace  and  elegance  which 
would  have  done  no  discredit  to  any  gentleman  in 
the  land,  reclining  upon  his  fcmteil  in  his  dressing- 
room.  After  answering  quietly  and  politely  a  num 
ber  of  questions,  he  requested  those  present  to 
retire,  as  he  had  something  to  communicate  to  the 
Sheriff  relative  to  certain  stolen  property.  His 
memorandum  book,  among  many  other  things,  con 
tained  a  great  many  extracts,  clipped  from  the 
Star,  La  Cronica,  and  other  papers,  containing  ac 
counts  of  his  various  exploits.  They  went  to  show 
conclusively  that  he  had  been  furnished  regularly 
by  confederates  with  everything  that  could  interest 
him  or  keep  him  informed  of  the  measures  set  on 
foot  to  effect  his  capture. 

On  a  small  scrap  of  paper,  dated  April  3d,  was 
a  memorandum  in  the  Spanish  language,  in  which 
the  name  of  Repetto  occurred.  Whether  it  was  a 
reminder  of  his  intended  visit  to  that  gentleman,  or 
a  credit  for  the  amount  of  the  forced  loan  he  exacted 
from  him,  I  do  not  know.  As  soon  as  Vasquez  was 
safely  lodged  ift  jail,  all  parties  agreed  that  Sheriff 
Rowland  and  the  actual  captors  of  the  bandit,  the 
cool-headed  and  intrepid  Albert  Johnston,  Under 
Sheriff;  and  his  brave,  energetic,  and  fearless  asso 
ciates,  officers  Hartley,  Harris,  and  Bryant,  Major 
Mitchell,  and  Messrs.  Rogers,  Smith,  and  Beers, 
were  entitled  to  great  credit.  They  had  been  un 
ceasing  in  their  efforts  to  effect  the  capture  of 
Vasquez  from  the  time  of  the  Repetto  outrage,  and 
the  result  is  told  as  above. 

William  Rowland,  Sheriff  of  Los  Angeles  county, 
is  a  native  of  the  county ;  was  about  thirty-three 
years  of  age,  and  was  serving  his  second  term. 
Albert  Johnston,  Under  Sheriff,  is  a  New  Yorker 
by  birth,  a  brother  of  Geo.  A.  Johnston,  of  San 


192  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

Diego,  and  had  been  a  resident  of  Los  Angeles  for 
about  five  years,  having  held  the  office  of  Under 
Sheriff  since  Mr.  Rowland's  election.  He  came  to 
this  State  when  a  mere  youth,  and  went  back  to  the 
East  and  remained  several  years,  but,  like  all  good 
Californians,  returned.  He  was  of  about  the  same 
age  as  his  principal.  Officer  Harris  was  thirty-two 
years  old ;  was  well-known  in  the  city,  where  he 
had  lived  for  six  years,  and  had  been  on  the  police 
force  for  four  years.  He  had  detective  qualities 
second  to  no  man  in  the  State  ;  was  brave,  cool, 
and  energetic,  and  just  the  man  to  have  associated 
in  such  a  hazardous  undertaking.  Officer  Hartley 
was  a  brave  fellow,  about  thirty-seven  years  old, 
and  a  model  member  of  the  police  force,  upon 
which  he  had  served  efficiently  and  faithfully  for 
two  years.  He  had  resided  in  Los  Angeles  for  five 
years.  Constable  Bryant  was  also  one  of  the  best 
officers  Los  Angeles  ever  had.  He,  too,  was  a  brave 
and  efficient  officer,  about  thirty-five  years  of  age. 
Major  Mitchell,  soldier,  lawyer,  miner,  apiarist,  and 
journalist,  was  a  young  man  of  talent  and  education. 
With  what  valor  and  intrepidity  he  followed  the 
flag  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  may  be  seen  in 
his  persistent  and  unrivaled  pursuit  of  the  robber 
chief,  from  the  Repetto  event  until  the  achievement 
related.  Mr.  W.  E.  Rogers  was  a  young  man  of 
thirty-two  years  of  age,  twenty-four  of  which  he  had 
spent  in  San  Francisco.  He  had  been  associated  with 
the  Sheriff's  party  from  the  start,  and  was  as  brave 
as  he  was  genteel  and  unostentatious.  Mr.  Smith 
was,  I  believe,  a  farmer,  and  resided  outside  of 
the  city.  When  Mr.  Smith  went  to  Greek  George's 
house  a  few  days  before,  to  inquire  if  he  wanted 
any  barley  cut,  the  latter  not  in  the  least  suspected 
that  the  would-be  hay-maker  was  taking  a  survey 


A  SENSATION   IN   THE   ORANGE   GROVES.       193 

of  the  premises  for  Mr.  Rowland,  so  that,  when  the 
time  arrived  for  the  attack,  it  could  be  made  with 
out  confusion  and  without  loss  of  life,  if  possible, 
to  the  besieging  party.  Mr.  Beers,  the  correspond 
ent  of  the  Chronicle,  was  as  gallant  as  his  fellows, 
and  marched  up  to  the  scene  of  attack  with  rifle  in 
hand,  prepared  for  any  emergency. 

The  next  day  I  interviewed  Vasquez.  He  seemed 
but  little  the  worse  for  his  wounds.  Sheriff  Row 
land  had  provided  him  with  a  comfortable  spring 
mattress,  and  the  dinner  which  was  brought  to  him 
during  my  stay  in  his  cell,  or  rather  room,  was  good 
enough  for  anybody.  He  laughed  and  talked  as 
gaily  and  unconstrainedly  as  if  he  were  in  his 
parlor  instead  of  in  the  clutches  of  the  violated 
law.  In  reply  to  my  questions,  he  gave  the  follow 
ing  account  of  himself,  substantially : 

"  I  was  born  in  Monterey  county,  California,  at 
the  town  of  Monterey,  August  llth,  1835.  My 
parents  are  both  dead.  I  have  three  brothers  and 
two  sisters.  Two  of  my  brothers  reside  in  Monterey 
county :  one  unmarried  and  one  married ;  the  other 
resides  in  Los  Angeles  county  ;  he  is  married.  My 
sisters  are  both  married ;  one  of  them  lives  at  San 
Juan  Baptista,  Monterey  county,  the  other  at  the 
New  Idria  quicksilver  mines.  I  was  never  married, 
but  I  have  one  child  in  this  county  a  year  old.  I 
can  read  and  write,  having  attended  school  in  Mon 
terey.  My  parents  were  people  in  ordinarily  good 
circumstances,  owning  a  small  tract  of  land,  and 
always  had  enough  for  their  wants.  My  career 
grew  out  of  the  circumstances  by  which  I  was  sur 
rounded.  As  I  grew  up  to  manhood,  I  was  in  the 
habit  of  attending  balls  and  parties  given  by  the 
native  Californians,  into  which  the  Americans,  then 
beginning  to  become  numerous,  would  force  them- 


194  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

selves  and  shove  the  native-born  men  aside,  mo 
nopolizing  the  dance  and  the  women.  This  was 
about  1852.  A  spirit  of  hatred  and  revenge  took 
possession  of  me.  I  had  numerous  fights  in  defense 
of  what  I  believed  to  be  my  rights  and  those  of  my 
countrymen.  The  officers  were  continually  in  pur 
suit  of  me.  I  believed  we  were  unjustly  and 
wrongfully  deprived  of  the  social  rights  that  be 
longed  to  us.  So  perpetually  was  I  involved  in 
these  difficulties,  that  I  at  length  determined  to 
leave  the  thickly  settled  portions  of  the  country, 
and  did  so.  I  gathered  together  a  small  band  of 
cattle,  and  went  into  Mendocino  county,  back  of 
Ukiah,  and  beyond  Falls  Valley.  Even  here  I  was 
not  permitted  to  remain  in  peace.  The  officers  of 
the  law  sought  me  out  in  that  remote  region,  and 
strove  to  drag  me  before  the  courts.  I  always  re 
sisted  arrest.  I  went  to  my  mother  and  told  her  I  in 
tended  to  commence  a  different  life.  I  asked  for  and 
obtained  her  blessing,  and  at  once  commenced  the 
career  of  a  robber.  My  first  exploit  consisted  in 
robbing  some  peddlers  of  money  and  clothes  in 
Monterey  county.  My  next  was  the  capture  and 
robbery  of  a  stage  coach  in  the  same  county.  I 
had  confederates  with  me  from  the  first,  and  was 
always  recognized  as  leader.  Robbery  after  rob 
bery  followed  each  other  as  rapidly  as  circumstances 
allowed  until,  in  1857  or  '58, 1  was  arrested  in  Los 
Angeles  for  horse  stealing,  convicted  of  grand  lar 
ceny,  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary,  and  was  taken 
to  San  Quentin,  and  remained  there  until  my  term 
of  imprisonment  expired  in  1863.  Up  to  the  time 
of  my  conviction  and  imprisonment,  I  had  robbed 
stage  coaches,  wagons,  houses,  etc.,  indiscriminately, 
carrying  on  my  operations  for  the  most  part,  in  day 
light,  sometimes,  however,  visiting  houses  after  dark. 


A   SENSATION   IN  THE  ORANGE  GROVES.       195 

"  After  my  discharge  from  San  Quentin,  I  re 
turned  to  the  house  of  my  parents,  and  endeavored 
to  lead  a  peaceable  and  honest  life.  I  was,  how 
ever,  soon  accused  of  being  a  confederate  of  Procopio 
and  one  Soto,  both  noted  bandits,  the  latter  of  whom 
was  afterwards  killed  by  Sheriff  Harry  Morse,  of 
Alameda  county.  I  was  again  forced  to  become  a 
fugitive  from  the  law  officers ;  and,  driven  to  des- 
paration,  left  home  and  family,  and  commenced  rob 
bing  whenever  opportunity  offered.  I  macle  but 
little  money  by  my  exploit's.  I  always  managed  to 
avoid  arrest.  I  believe  I  owe  my  frequent  escapes 
solely  to  my  courage  (mi  valor).  I  was  always 
ready  to  fight  whenever  opportunity  offered,  but  al 
ways  endeavored  to  avoid  bloodshed. 

"  I  know  of  nothing  worthy  of  note  until  the 
Tres  Pinos  affair  occurred.  The  true  story  of  that 
transaction  is  as  follows:  I,  together  with  four 
other  men,  including  Chaves,  my  lieutenant,  and 
one  Leiva,  (who  is  now  in  jail  at  San  Jose,  awaiting 
an  opportunity  to  testify,  he  having  turned  State's 
evidence,)  camped  within  a  short  distance  of  Tres 
Pinos.  I  sent  three  of  the  party,  Leiva  included,  to 
that  point,  making  Leiva  the  Captain.  I  instructed 
them  to  take  a  drink,  examine  the  locality,  acquaint 
themselves  with  the  number  of  men  around,  and 
wait  until  I  came.  I  told  them  not  to  use  any  vi 
olence,  as  when  I  arrived  I  would  be  the  judge,  and 
if  anybody  had  to  be  shot  I  would  do  the  shooting. 
When  I  arrived  there  with  Chaves,  however,  I 
found  three*  men  dead,  and  was  told  that  two  of 
them  were  killed  by  Leiva  and  one  by  another  of 
the  party  named  Romano ;  the  rest  of  the  men  in 
the  place  were  all  tied.  I  told  Leiva  and  his  com 
panions  that  they  had  acted  contrary  to  my  orders, 
that  I  did  not  wish  to  remain  there  long.  Leiva 


196  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

and  his  men  had  not  secured  money  enough  for  my 
purpose  and  I  told  a  woman,  the  wife  of  one  of  the 
men  who  was  tied,  that  I  would  kill  him  if  she  did 
not  procure  funds.  She  did  so  and  we  gathered  up 
what  goods  and  clothing  and  provisions  we  needed, 
and  started  for  Elizabeth  Lake,  Los  Angeles  county. 
On  the  way  there  Leiva  became  jealous  of  me,  and 
at  once  rebelled  and  swore  revenge.  He  left  his 
wife  at  Heffner's  place  on  Elizabeth  Lake,  and 
started  to  Los  Angeles  to  deliver  himself  up,  as  well 
as  to  deliver  me  to  the  authorities,  if  he  could  do 
so.  Sheriff  Rowland,  however,  was  on  my  track, 
and  in  company  with  Sheriff  Adams,  of  Santa  Clara 
county,  and  a  posse  of  men,  endeavoured  to  capture 
Chaves  and  myself  at  Rock  Creek.  We  fired  at  the 
party  and  could  have  killed  them  if  we  had  wished 
so  to  do.  We  effected  our  escape,  and  arriving  at 
Heffner's,  I  took  Leiva's  wife  behind  me  on  my 
horse,  and  started  back  in  the  direction  I  knew 
Rowland  and  Adams  and  their  party  would  be  com 
ing,  knowing  that  I  could  hear  them  approaching 
on  their  horses.  I  did  so,  and  as  they  drew  near  I 
turned  aside  from  the  road.  The  Sheriffs  and  their 
posse  passed  on,  and  I  took  Leiva's  wife  to  a  cer 
tain  point,  which  I  do  not  care  to  name,  and  left 
her  in  the  hills  at  a  sheep  ranch,  while  I  went  out 
and  made  a  raid  on  Firebaugh's  Ferry,  on  the  San 
Joaquin  river,  for  money  to  send  her  back  to  her 
parents'  house.  I  did  so,  and  have  not  seen  her 
since.  I  provided  for  all  her  wants  while  she  was 
with  me.  I  tied  ten  men  and  a  Chinaman  up  at 
Firebaugh's  Ferry  in  the  raid  above  referred  to." 

[Here  I  digress  a  moment,  to  tell  what  befell 
Sheriffs  Rowland  and  Adams  and  posse.  They 
went  straight  to  Heffner's,  found  their  game  had 
broken  cover.  They  found  Vasquez'  camp,  captured 


A   SENSATION   IN   THE   ORANGE   GROVES.       197 

thirty-six  horses  and  the  greater  part  of  the  goods, 
clothing  and  provisions,  taken  from  the  Tres  Pinos, 
and  then  divided,  Sheriff  Rowland  returning  to  Los 
Angeles  with  the  horses,  all  of  which  had  been  re 
turned  to  their  owners  except  two.  While  at  the 
camp  Leiva  came  up  and  was  arrested  by  Sheriff 
Rowland,  on  suspicion  ;  was  by  him  turned  over  to 
Mr.  Wasson,  the  Sheriff  of  Monterey  county.  Sheriff 
Adams  and  his  party  kept  up  an  unsuccessful 
search  for  the  bandit  for  several  days,  and  finally 
abandoned  it.  I  now  resume  Vasquez's  narrative 
where  it  was  left  off] 

"After  sending  Leiva's  wife  home,  I  went  to 
King's  River,  in  Tulare  county,  where,  with  a  party 
of  eight  men  besides  myself,  I  captured  and  tied  up 
thirty-five  men.  There  were  two  stores  and  a  hotel 
in  this  place.  I  had  time  to  plunder  only  one  of 
the  stores,  as  the  citizens  aroused  themselves  and  be 
gan  to  show  fight.  The  numbers  were  unequal  and 
I  retired.  I  got  about  eight  hundred  dollars  and 
considerable  jewelry  by  this  raid.  I  went  from 
there  to  a  small  settlement,  known  as  Panama,  on 
Kern  river,  where  myself  and  party  had  a  carouse 
of  three  days,  dancing,  love  making,  etc.  El  Capi- 
tan  Yasquez  was  quite  a  favorite  with  the  senori- 
tas.  It  was  well  known  to  the  citizens  of  Bakers- 
field,  which  is  only  two  or  three  miles  from  Pana 
ma,  that  I  was  there,  and  arrangements  were  made 
for  my  capture ;  but  the  attempt  was  not  made  un 
til  I  had  been  gone  twenty-four  hours.  Then  they 
came  and  searched  the  house  in  which  I  was  sup 
posed  to  be  concealed.  When  I  left  Panama,  I 
started  for  the  Sweet-water  mountains,  and  skirted 
their  base,  never  traveling  along  the  road,  but  keep 
ing  along  in  the  direction  of  Lone  Pine.  I  returned  by 
the  way  of  Coyote  Holes,  where  the  robbery  of  the 


198  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

stage  took  place.  Here  Chaves  and  myself  cap 
tured  the  diligencia  and  sixteen  men.  Chaves 
held  his  gun  over  them  while  I  took  their  money 
and  jewelry.  We  got  about  $200  and  some  pistols, 
and  jewelry,  watches,  etc.;  also  a  pocket-book,  belong 
ing  to  Mr.  James  Craig,  containing  about  $10,000 
worth  of  mining  stock,  which  I  threw  away.  One 
man  was  disposed  to  show  fight,  and  to  preserve  or 
der  I  shot  him  in  the  leg,  and  made  him  sit  down. 
I  got  six  horses  from  the  stage  company,  two  from 
the  station.  I  drove  four  of  them  off  in  one  direc 
tion  and  went  myself  in  another,  in  order  to  elude 
pursuit.  I  wandered  around  in  the  mountains  after 
that  until  the  time  of  the  Repetto  robbery. 

"  The  day  before  that  occurrence  I  camped  at  the 
Pietra  Gordo,  at  the  head  of  Arroyo  Seco.  I  had  se 
lected  Repetto  as  a  good  subject.  In  pursuance  of 
the  plan  I  had  adopted,  I  went  to  a  sheep  herder 
employed  on  the  place,  and  asked  him  if  he  had 
seen  a  brown  horse  which  I  had  lost ;  inquired  if 
Repetto  was  at  home,  took  a  look  at  the  surround 
ings,  and  told  the  man  I  had  to  go  to  the  Old  Mis 
sion  on  some  important  business,  that  if  he  would 
catch  my  horse  I  would  give  him  $10  or  $15.  I 
then  returned  by  a  roundabout  way  to  my  com 
panions  on  the  Arroyo  Seco.  As  soon  as  it  was 
dark  I  returned  with  my  men  to  the  neighborhood 
of  Repetto's.  and  camped  within  a  few  rods  of  the 
house.  The  next  morning  about  breakfast  time  we 
wrapped  our  guns  in  our  blankets,  retaining  only 
our  pistols,  and  I  went  toward  the  house,  where  I 
met  the  sheep  herder  and  commenced  talking  about 
business.  Asked  him  if  Repetto  wanted  herders  or 
shearers,  how  many  sheep  could  he  shear  in  a  day, 
etc. ;  speaking  in  a  loud  tone,  in  order  to  let  Repetto 
hear  us  and  throw  him  off  his  guard.  I  had  left 


OF  TBF 

UNIVERSITY   , 

A   SENSATION    IN    THE   ORANGE  GROVES.        199 


my  men  behind  a  small  fence,  and  being  told  that 
he  was  at  home,  I  entered  the  house  to  see  if  I 
could  bring  the  patron  to  terms  without  killing 
him.  I  found  him  at  home,  and  told  him  I  was  an 
expert  sheep  shearer,  and  asked  him  if  he  wished 
to  employ  any  shearers ;  told  him  that  my  friends, 
the  gentlemen  who  were  waiting  out  by  the  fence, 
were  also  good  shearers,  and  wanted  work.  All 
were  invited  in,  and  as  they  entered  surrounded  Re- 
petto.  I  then  told  him  I  wanted  money.  At  this 
he  commenced  hollering,  when  I  had  him  securely 
tied,  and  told  him  to  give  me  what  money  he  had 
in  the  house.  He  handed  me  eighty  dollars.  I  told  him 
that  that  would  not  do ;  that  I  knew  all  about  his 
affairs ;  that  he  had  sold  nearly  $10,000  worth  of 
sheep  lately,  and  that  he  must  have  plenty  of  money 
buried  about  the  place  somewhere.  Repetto  then 
protested  that  he  had  paid  out  nearly  all  the  money 
he  had  received  in  the  purchase  of  land ;  that  he 
had  receipts  to  show  for  it,  etc.  I  told  him  that  I 
could  read  and  write  and  understood  accounts ;  that 
if  he  produced  his  books  and  receipts,  and  they 
balanced  according  to  his  statements,  I  would  ex 
cuse  him.  He  produced  the  books,  and  after  ex 
amining  them  carefully,  I  became  convinced  that  he 
had  told  me  very  nearly  the  truth.  I  then  express 
ed  my  regrets  for  the  trouble  I  had  put  him  to, 
and  offered  to  compromise.  I  told  him  I  was  in 
need  of  money,  and  that  if  he  would  accommodate 
me  with  a  small  sum  I  would  repay  hirn  in  thirty 
days,  with  interest  at  1J  per  cent,  per  month.  He 
kindly  consented  to  do  so,  and  sent  a  messenger  to 
a  bank  in  Los  Angeles  for  the  money,  being  first 
warned  that  in  the  event  of  treachery  or  betrayal 
his  life  would  pay  the  forfeit.  The  messenger  re 
turned,  not  without  exciting  the  suspicions  of  the 


200  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

authorities,  who,  as  is  well  known,  endeavored  at 
that  time  to  effect  my  capture,  but  failed.  But  you 
know  all  about  the  Arroyo  Seco  affair." 

I  do,  and  present  it  as  follows :  Mr.  Repetto,  fear 
ing  that  his  life  would  be  taken,  despatched  a  boy 
to  Los  Angeles  with  a  check  for  the  above  amount. 
The  boy  went  to  town  as  quick  as  ever  man  flew 
over  the  old  Mission  road,  and  proceeded  at  once  to 
the  Sheriff's  office  and  gave  a  detailed  description 
of  the  robbers  and  the  affair.  Mr.  Rowland  and 
Under  Sheriff  Albert  Johnston  at  once  made  ar 
rangements  for  a  pursuit,  entertaining  no  doubt  but 
that  it  was  Vasquez  and  his  gang  of  freebooters.  In 
less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  a  number  of  fleet 
horses  had  been  procured  and  saddled,  and  a  party, 
composed  of  officers  Sands,  Harris,  Hartley,  Redona, 
and  Benites,  and  Mr.  Rogers  and  Chantes,  led  by 
Mr.  Rowland,  proceeded  out  toward,  the  neighbor 
hood  of  the  outrage.  In  less  than  half  an  hour  the 
pursuing  party  arrived  within  sight  of  Mr.  Repet- 
to's  house,  and  quick  as  a  flash  five  men  mounted 
their  horses,  and  galloped  in  the  direction  of  the  up 
per  Arroyo  Seco,  the  Rowland  party  giving  hot 
pursuit. 

While  all  this  exciting  work  was  going  on,  Charles 
Miles  and  John  Osborne,  who  had  been  hauling  some 
piping  material  out  to  the  lands  of  the  Orange 
Grove  Association,  were  quietly  jogging  on  toward 
home.  Now,  if  you  had  told  these  two  gentlemen 
that  Vasquez  was  within  gunshot  of  them  they 
would  have  laughed  in  your  face.  But  all  of  a  sud 
den,  up  dashed  two  men,  each  armed  with  a  Henry 
rifle  and  a  six  shooter,  and,  in  English,  demanded  a 
halt.  Osborne  thought  it  wUs  a  joke,  and  carelessly 
dropped  the  rein  on  his  sorrel,  so  as  to  increase  its 
pace.  In  doing  so  he  drove  right  into  three  more  of 


A  SENSATION   IN  THE   ORANGE   GROVES.       201 

the  bandits,  who  gave  him  to  understand  that  he 
proceeded  further  at  great  peril.  Vasquez,  quick  as 
thought,  made  his  appearance  on  the  near  side,  and 
covered  Osborne  with  a  Henry  rifle,  which  little 
maneuver  caused  the  smiling  face  of  Miles  to  elong 
ate  a  trifle.  Then  he  smiled  again ;  and  then,  as  a 
Henry  rifle,  seemingly  as  big  as  a  Dahlgren  gun, 
fooled  around  his  left  ear,  he  drew  on  that  Platonic 
countenance  again,  and  began  to  view  the  scene 
from  a  "  business  "  standpoint.  Two  of  the  high 
waymen  dismounted,  while  Vasquez  and  the  two 
men  who  did  not  dismount  covered  the  victims  in  the 
wagon  with  their  rifles  and  six-shooters.  "Hand 
out  your  money  ! "  said  Vasquez,  "  and  hurry  up,  for 
there  are  a  dozen  men  coming  this  way."  Mr.  Miles 
declared  that  he  hadn't  got  a  cent  with  him,  which 
elicited  from  the  accommodating  knight  of  the  road, 
"Then  I'll  take  that  watch  ! " 

At  this  juncture  the  urbane  City  Water  Collector 
looked  first  at  his  own  English  hunting  lever,  and 
then  at  Osborne's,  because,  you  see,  he  didn't  know 
exactly  which  chronometer  suited  the  fancy  of  the 
California  Duval.  But  the  latter,  in  order  to  create 
no  hard  feelings  or  misunderstanding  in  the  matter, 
took  both  of  them.  About  three  dollars  and  a  half 
in  United  States  silver  coin,  also,  was  donated,  and 
then  the  outfit  was  permitted  to  depart,  the  robbers, 
in  the  meantime,  perceiving  the  Harris  and  Sands 
party  at  the  top  of  the  hill  about  a  thousand  yards  off, 
dashing  off  in  a  different  direction. 

Los  Angeles  was  wild  during  that  afternoon,  and 
all  sorts  of  rumors  gained  credence,  among  which 
was  that  "  Jeemes  Pipes,  of  Pipesville,"  had  been 
killed. 

About  three  o'clock  Rowland,  after  locating  his 
forces  as  best  as  he  could,  returned  to  town  for  re- 


202  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

inforcements,  believing  that,  with  a  proper  number 
of  men  at  his  command,  he  would  succeed  in  effect 
ing  a  capture.  In  a  few  moments  General  Baldwin 
and  two  other  men,  and  Constable  Bryant  and  three 
others,  were  equipped,  and  in  the  line  of  pursuit. 

To  continue  Vasquez's  account :  "  After  my  escape 
I  wandered  for  a  while  in  the  mountains  ;  was  near 
enough  to  the  parties  who  were  searching  for  me  to 
kill  them  if  I  had  desired  so  to  do.  For  the  past 
three  weeks  I  have  had  my  camp  near  the  place 
where  I  was  captured,  only  coming  to  the  house  at 
intervals  to  get  a  meal.  I  was  not  expecting  com 
pany  at  the  time  the  arrest  was  made,  or  the  result 
might  have  been  different." 

The  foregoing  is  a  very  fair  paraphrase  of  the  re 
cital  made  to  me  by  Vasquez,  in  the  presence  of 
Sheriff  Rowland.  Almost  all  of  it,  except  his  version 
of  the  Tres  Pinos  affair,  is  known  to  be  true.  Only 
the  leading  events  of  his  long  career  of  brigandage 
and  outlawry  are  described.  But  my  readers  can 
draw  their  own  conclusion  as  to  what  manner  of 
rnanTiburcio  Vasquez  was.  He  protested  frequently 
throughout  the  interview  that  he  had  never  killed 
a  man  in  his  life. 

To  complete  this  sketch,  I  would  state  that  dur 
ing  the  September  following  his  capture  Vasquez 
was  arraigned  in  the  Twelfth  District  Court,  San 
Jose,  for  the  murder  of  Leander  Davidson  at  Tres 
Pinos.  A  continuance  was  granted  until  Jan.  5th, 
1875.  On  that  day  the  case  was  called,  Judge  Belden 
presiding.  Charles  Ben  Darwin  and  Mr.  Tully 
were  retained  for  the  defense.  Darwin  withdrew, 
and  in  his  place  Judge  Belden  appointed  Judge  W. 
H.  Collins  and  Judge  J.  A.  Moultrie.  Attorney- 
General  Love,  District  Attorney  Briggs,  of  San 
Benito  county,  Hon.  W.  E.  Lovett  and  District  At- 


A  SENSATION  IN  THE  ORANGE  GROVES.   203 

torney  Bodely,  of  Santa  Clara  county,  appeared  for 
the  people.  After  a  four  days'  trial  Vasquez  was 
found  guilty  of  murder  in  the  first  degree.  On  the 
23d  day  of  January,  1875,  he  was  sentenced  to 
death,  and  by  the  execution  of  that  sentence  Cali 
fornia  got  rid  of  one  of  the  bloodiest  scoundrels  of 
the  century. 


THE  RENAISSANCE  OF  MONTEREY. 


The  reader  is  now  invited  to  accompany  the 
author  to  an  Arcadian  scene,  where  sea  and  sky 
and  sunshine  and  sylvan  surroundings  majestically 
meet,  and  where  a  rare  equability  of  temperature 
and  healthfulness  of  climate  beckon  alike  the  seeker 
after  recreation  and  recuperation — I  mean  Monterey 
—the  QUEEN  OF  AMERICAN  WATERING  PLACES. 

Monterey  has  long  been  known  for  its  equable 
temperature  and  for  its  health-giving  atmosphere 
and  breezes.  It  was  founded  110  years  ago  by  the 
Franciscan  missionaries,  whose  land-marks  of  civil 
ization  dot  the  Pacific  Coast  here  and  there,  from 
the  Mexican  border  to  San  Francisco.  It  was  the 
first  capital  of  California,  and  has  always  enjoyed, 
amongst  old  Californians,  the  reputation  of  being 
the  healthiest  and  most  delightful  spot  in  their 
State ;  and  it  is,  undoubtedly,  the  most  perfect 
place  for  the  invalid  and  the  valetudinarian  to  win 
ter  in,  and  for  the  seeker  after  pleasure  and  recre 
ation  to  summer  at,  upon  the  Pacific  Coast,  and, 
perhaps,  in  the  world.  Fully  realizing  these  facts, 
the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  some  two 
years  ago,  built  a  road  from  a  point  on  their  main 
coast  line,  and  now  run  two  trains  daily  each  way, 
between  San  Francisco  and  this  charming  city  by 
the  sea. 

There  is  probably  no  place  upon  the  Pacific  Coast 


THE   RENAISSANCE   OF   MONTEREY.  205 

so  replete  with  natural  charms  as  Monterey.  Its 
exquisite  beauty  and  variety  of  scenery  is  diversi 
fied  with  ocean,  bay,  lake  and  streamlet ;  mountain, 
hill  and  valley,  and  groves  of  oak,  cypress,  spruce, 
pine  and  other  trees.  The  mountain  views  are 
very  beautiful,  particularly  the  Gabilan  and  Santa 
Cruz  spurs.  That  which  will  the  quickest  engage 
the  observation  of  the  visitor,  however,  is  the  pine- 
fringed  slope  near  town,  and  the  grove  that  sur 
rounds  the  "  Hotel  del  Monte." 

As  some  requirement  of  the  public  at  large  has 
always  had  a  hand  either  in  pointing  out  almost 
every  well  known  spot  of  picturesque  beauty  in  the 
world,  or  at  least  in  developing  it,  so  it  was  the 
fact  that  San  Francisco  needed  a  fashionable  sea 
shore  resort  that  brought  Monterey  into  celebrity 
after  it  had  swung  around  the  circle  of  civilization 
almost  into  oblivion.  As  I  have  spoken  of  it  as  a 
resort,  it  is  not  difficult  to  prove  its  claims.  It  has  an 
ideal  atmosphere  and  temperature — it  is  in  Califor 
nia,  and  is  not  that  enough  ? — in  a  section  of  country 
where  winter  never  visits,  and  where  summer,  too, 
is  forgotten ;  and  in  their  place  the  lucky  inhabit 
ants  have  that  blissful  climate  which  contains  all 
the  attractions  of  the  fickle  element  and  none  of 
its  drawbacks.  It  is  a  purified,  idealized  climate ; 
never  cold,  never  hot ;  always  balmy,  never  ener 
vating  ;  and  possessing,  in  its  moderation,  the  rare 
quality  of  being  bracing.  Too  dry  for  malaria  or 
fever,  too  mild  and  even  for  pneumonia  and  its 
near  blood  relation,  consumption,  cannot  one  for 
give  any  amount  of  enthusiasm  upon  such  a  climate  ? 
But  Monterey  is  not  all  climate;  it  is  scenic  as 
welL  It  is  a  spot  to  inspire  poets,  and  to  nerve 
the  artist's  hand;  and  it  is  also  an  all-the-y ear- 
round  resort,  as  the  thermometer  only  varies  about 


206  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

six  degrees  from  January  to  June.  It  was  Cali 
fornia's  first  capital  city,  but,  its  situation  being 
hardly  adapted  to  that  honor,  it  was  stripped  of 
that  prominent  position  and  became  simply  Monte 
rey.  But  its  thousands  of  happy  visitors  can  sup 
port  its  loss  of  political  importance,  and  perhaps  be 
thankful  that  its  beautiful  location  was  not  mo 
nopolized  by  business,  or  its  fine  bay  and  sea  view 
marred  by  the  inevitable  disfigurement  of  traffic 
and  its  adjuncts.  Beside  being  climatic  and  scenic, 
Monterey  is  likewise  historical.  We  were  all  taught 
at  school,  if  you  will  recollect,  that  many  parts  of 
the  Pacific  Coast  were  made  picturesque  by  ruins ; 
but  in  this  instance  they  are  not  the  ruins  of  bar 
baric  splendor,  indicative  of  a  prior  possession  of 
the  country  by  the  superior  beings  who  made  Peru 
and  Mexico  famous,  and  linked  them  by  romance 
with  the  mediaeval  and  chivalric  ages.  These  ruins 
date  no  further  back  than  the  close  of  the  last  cen 
tury,  and  are  only  another  land-mark  of  that  per 
sistent  church  that  so  early  placed  its  standard  over 
this  land,  and  is  still  patiently  struggling  on  and 
awaiting  results.  The  Spanish  Government  then,  as 
now,  one  of  the  most  devout  of  the  Catholic  do 
minions,  established  at  Monterey  a  presidio  for  the 
protection  of  the  settlement.  Father  Junipero 
Serra  and  his  coadjutors  landed  there  June  3,  1770, 
and  the  Carmel  Mission  was  at  once  built  by  the 
Missionaries  themselves.  A  large  wooden  cross  still 
marks  the  spot  where  these  pioneer  priests  landed, 
and  is  one  of  the  many  objects  of  interest  within  the 
limits  of  the  pueblo.  The  architecture  of  the  Mis 
sion  challenges  admiration.  It  is  vast,  solid  and  dig 
nified,  bearing,  intentionally,  a  decided  resemblance 
to  the  Syrian  Mount  Carmel ;  the  mound-like  effect 
is  arrived  at  by  a  general  gentle  slope  of  the  walls 


THE   RENAISSANCE    OF   MONTEREY.  207 

of  the  compact  main  buildings  from  the  ground  to 
the  roof.  It  is  a  noble  edifice,  even  now,  and  fitted 
well  to  its  surroundings.  In  no  land  in  the  world 
does  verdure  reach  a  higher  state  of  perfection  than 
in  California;  trees  and  plants  alike  grow  to  fabu 
lous  sizes,  while  the  coloring  in  the  landscape  effects 
and  the  hues  of  ocean  and  sky  rival  the  tropics, 
and  in  the  midst  of  this  is  Monterey ;  and  four 
miles  away  through  pleasant  roads  and  bewildering 
groves  of  cypress  is  the  picturesque  Mission,  framed 
in  a  landscape  unlikely  to  mar  the  thoughts  which 
this  stately  ruin  will  inspire,  as  one  looks  upon  its 
noble  towers,  its  ruined,  grass-grown  stairs,  all  the 
handiwork  of  this  little  body  of  men,  who  left 
their  own  country,  not  to  mend  their  fortunes  or 
earn  riches,  but  true  to  a  principle,  and  in  a  spirit 
deserving  of  devout  respect,  however  antagonistic 
it  may  seem  to  many.  In  those  narrow  cells  they 
said  their  paternoster ;  up  and  down  those  moss- 
encrusted  stairs  they  went  upon  their  daily  rounds 
of  work  and  prayer ;  and,  to  whatever  duties  their 
successors  in  faith  may  now  devote  themselves,  that 
drooping  structure  demands  for  the  co-workers  of 
Father  Junipero  Serra  profound  respect. 

The  Bay  of  Monterey  is  a  magnificent  sheet  of 
water,  and  is  twenty  eight  miles  from  point  to 
point.  It  is  delightfully  adapted  to  boating  and 
yachting ;  and  many  kinds  of  fish  (and  especially 
rock-cod,  barracuda,  pompino,  Spanish  mackerel, 
and  flounder,)  may  be  taken  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year,  and  salmon  during  portions  .of  the  summer 
months.  For  bathing  purposes  the  beach  is  all 
that  could  be  desired — one  long,  bold  sweep  of 
wide,  gently  sloping,  clean  white  sands — the  very 
perfection  of  a  bathing  beach,  and  so  safe  that 
children  may  play  and  bathe  upon  it  with  entire 


208  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

security.  There  are  also  great  varieties  of  sea 
mosses,  shells,  pebbles  and  agates  scattered  here 
and  there  along  the  rim  of  the  bay,  fringed  as  it  is 
at  all  times  with  the  creamy  ripple  of  the  surf. 

To  those  who  resort  to  Monterey  as  a  fashionable 
watering  place  during  the  summer,  or  as  a  health 
resort  during  winter,  the  "  Hotel  del  Monte "  is 
looked  upon  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  all  the 
attractions,  not  only  on  account  of  its  being  the 
most  magnificent  structure  of  the  kind  on  the 
Pacific  Coast,  but  because  it  is  one  of  the  largest, 
handsomest,  and  one  of  the  most  elegantly  furnished 
sea-side  hotels  in  the  world.  Indeed,  no  ocean 
house  upon  the  Atlantic  approaches  it  in  its  plan 
of  exterior,  while  its  interior  finish,  accommo 
dations  and  appointments  are  much  superior  to 
those  of  any  like  establishment  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  built  in  the  modern  Gothic  style,  and 
is  385  feet  in  length  and  115  feet  in  width,  with 
wings ;  there  are  two  full  stories,  an  attic  story, 
and  several  floors  in  the  central  tower  or  observ 
atory.  Its  ground  floor  in  some  respects  resembles 
that  of  the  Grand  Union  at  Saratoga ;  and,  as  in 
that  and  other  Eastern  summer  hotels,  the  lady 
guests  have  access  to  all  the  public  rooms,  and  es 
pecially  to  the  office  or  lobby  in  the  front  center  of 
the  building,  which  is  42x48  feet ;  connecting  with 
the  lobby  is  a  reading  room,  24x26 ;  then  a  ladies' 
billiard  room,  25x62 ;  then  a  ladies'  parlor,  34x42. 
and  then,  with  a  hall  or  covered  verandah  between, 
a  ball-room  36x72.  There  is  a  corridor  extending 
the  whole  length  of  the  building,  12  feet  wide. 
The  dining  room  is  45x70;  a  children's  and 
servants'  dining  room  is  attached,  and  aparments 
for  parties  who  may  prefer  dejeuners  a  la  four- 
chette.  The  kitchen  is  33x40  feet.  There  are  28 


THE   RENAISSANCE   OF   MONTEREY:  209 

suites  of  rooms  on  this  floor,  each  with  bath-room 
and  all  other  modern  improvements.  There  are 
three  staircases,  one  at  the  intersection  of  each  of 
the  end  wings,  and  a  grand  staircase  leading  from 
the  lobby.  In  the  second  story  there  are  48 
suites,  or  about  100  rooms,  and  all  other  modern 
improvements.  There  is  also  a  promenade  the 
whole  length  of  the  building,  12  feet  in  width.  In 
the  attic  story  there  are  13  suites  and  29  single 
rooms,  65  apartments  in  all.  The  central  tower  or 
observatory  is  25x30,  and  about  80  feet  in  height ; 
there  are  10  rooms  in  the  observatory ;  the  end 
towers  are  about  50  feet  in  height.  The  hotel  is 
lighted  throughout  with  gas  made  at  the  works 
upon  the  grounds,  and  supplied  with  water  from  an 
artesian  well  upon  the  premises.  No  pains  were 
spared  in  its  erection  to  provide  against  fire,  both 
in  the  perfect  construction  of  flues  and  in  the  ap 
paratus  for  extinguishing  flames.  The  house  is 
elegantly  furnished  throughout.  The  ladies'  billiard 
parlor  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  elegantly  ap 
pointed  in  the  United  States.  Adjacent  to  the 
hotel  building  is  a  bar-room  and  bowling  alley  and 
smoking  rooms  for  gentlemen.  At  a  short  distance 
from  the  hotel  is  a  stable  and  carriage  house,  large 
enough  to  accommodate  sixty  horses  and  as  many 
carriages;  there  is  telephonic  communication  be 
tween  the  hotel  and  stable.  There  is  hot  and  cold 
water  throughout  the  hotel,  and  all  other  modern 
appliances  and  improvements.  The  grounds,  con 
sisting  of  about  126  acres,  are  entirely  enclosed  and 
are  beautifully  wooded  with  pine,  oak,  cedar  and 
cypress.  There  have  been  about  1,200  young  trees 
added,  most  of  which  are  English  walnut.  Croquet 
plats,  an  archery,  swings,  an  enclosure  for  lawn 
tennis,  etc.,  are  provided,  and  choice  flowers,  shrubs 


210  OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 

and  grasses  are  growing  under  the  eye  of  an  expe 
rienced  gardener.  The  hotel  accommodates  four 
hundred  people;  it  is  only  a  stone's  throw  from  the 
station,  which  is  connected  with  it  by  a  wide  gravel 
and  cement  walk.  The  Company  also  own  7,000 
acres  of  land,  through  which  there  are  many  excel 
lent  drives,  and  over  which  roam  an  abundance  of 
game,  including  innumerable  deer.  There  are  also 
several  trout  streams  near  by,  from  which  the 
gainey  fish  may  be  taken  at  all  times  in  the  year, 
except  when  the  rivers  are  swollen  by  rains. 

The  beach  is  only  a  few  minutes'  walk  from  the 
"  Hotel  del  Monte,"  and  is  a  very  fine  one.  Mr.  W. 
H.  Daily,  the  champion  swimmer  of  the  Pacific 
Coast,  and  who  has  made  himself  well  acquainted 
with  the  character  of  several  of  the  most  noted 
beaches  from  San  Francisco  to  Santa  Monica,  says, 
in  a  letter  dated  Monterey,  December  15,  1879 :  "  I 
have  made  a  careful  examination  of  the  beach  at 
this  place,  as  to  its  fitness  for  purposes  of  bathing. 
I  find  it  an  easy,  sloping  beach  of  fine  sand ;  no 

f  ravel,  no  stones  anywhere  below  high  water  mark, 
waded  and  swam  up  the  beach  a  quarter  of  a 
mile,  that  is,  toward  the  east,  and  also  westward 
toward  the  warehouse,  and  found  a*smooth,  sandy 
bottom  all  the  way ;  no  rocks,  no  sea  weed  and  no 
undertow.  The  whiteness  of  the  sand  makes  the 
water  beautifully  clear.  I  consider  the  beach  here 
the  finest  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  /  was  in  the  water 
an  hour  yesterday,  and  found  it,  even  at  this  time 
of  the  year,  none  too  cold  for  enjoyable  bathing." 
The  bathing  establishment  is  the  largest  and  most 
complete  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  contains  warm 
salt  water  plunge  and  swimming  baths,  400  rooms, 
and  a  swimming  tank,  150  feet  by  50,  varying  in 
depth  from  three  to  six  feet,  heated  by  steam  pipes 


THE    RENAISSANCE   OF   MONTEREY.  211 

and  supplied  with  a  constant  flow  of  water  from 
the  sea ;  and  in  addition  thereto  a  number  of  rooms 
for  those  who  prefer  individual  baths  of  hot  and 
cold  salt  water — with  ample  douche  and  shower 
facilities. 

The  drives  over  the  new  macadamized  roads 
throughout  the  seven  thousand  acres  owned  by  the 
Company,  and  elsewhere  about  the  old  city,  reveal 
countless  attractions  of  shore  and  grove.  Civiliza 
tion  and  modern  ingenuity  and  wealth  of  means 
have  aided  nature ;  and  not  only  invalids,  tourists 
and  artists  flock  to  Monterey,  but  the  fashionable 
have  claimed  it  as  their  own  under  the  impression, 
as  usual,  that  the  best  of  this  world's  pleasures  is 
fashion's  birth  right — indeed,  if  one  would  but  think 
of  it,  it  is  probably  very  fortunate  that  health  resorts 
are  usually  capable  of  being  made  attractive,  or  else 
the  great  giddy  world  would  be  in  danger.  And  thus 
Monterey's  long  dream  has  been  permanently  broken. 
As  Mr.  W.  H.  Mills,  editor  of  the  Sacramento 
Record-  Union,  in  a  letter  to  his  paper,  about  a  year 
ago,  said  :  "  Her  destiny  is  not  that  of  a  trading 
center.  She  will  produce  no  millionaires.  No 
stock  exchanges  will  establish  themselves  in  her 
peaceful  old  streets.  It  is  her  lot  to  be  the  fash 
ionable  and  favorite  watering-place  of  California; 
the  resort  of  invalids  from  less  genial  climes  ;  a 
winter  as  well  as  a  summer  haunt  for  people  in 
delicate  health  ;  in  fact,  a  Sanitarium  of  the  pros 
perous  kind  that  has  received  the  imprimatur  of 
Fashion.  The  Hotel  del  Monte  has  settled  this 
question,  and  the  possibilities  of  the  place.  It  has 
lifted  it  out  of  the  rut  in  which  it  had  lain  so  long 
and  so  contentedly,  and  has,  in  conjunction  with 
the  railroad,  brought  it  within  easy  reach  of  every 
body.  Its  pleasant  climate,  its  interesting  asso- 


212 


OCCIDENTAL    SKETCHES. 


ciations,  its  natural  beauties,  its  fine  bathing,  will 
all  combine  to  render  it  more  popular  from  year  to 
year,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  in  a  little  while  its 
claims  will  be  recognized  by  that  steady  extension 
of  country-house  building  in  the  neighborhood 
which  always  attends  such  revivals."  MONTEREY 

HAS  THUS  REACHED  HER  RENAISSANCE. 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 


1852. 


WM.  B.  HOOPER  &  CO., 

Shipping   and   Commission    Merchants, 
SAN     FRANCISCO 

—  AND  — 

GUAYMAS 


Oil  and  Wine  Merchants, 

TUCSON  and  PHCENIX, 


EL  PASO,  TEXAS. 


FOR  THE 


California  Star  Oil  Works  Company. 


THE  PALACE  HOTEL, 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 

The  Palace  Hotel  occupies  an  entire  block  in  the  center  of  San  Francisco, 
and  is  the  Largest,  Completes!,  Most  Comfortable,  and 

lost  lagnificentjlotel  in  the  World, 

It  has  double  the  accommodations  of  any  Hotel  in  the  City. 

It  is  thoroughly  Fire  and  Earthquake-proof,  has  broad,  easy  stairways  and  five 
Elevators. 

Every  Room  is  extra  large,  light  and  airy.  The  system  of  ventilation  is  perfect, 
combining  flue  from  fire  place,  inlet  flue  for  fresh  air  from  outside,  and  outlet  flue  to 
the  roof. 

A  bath  and  closet  adjoin  every  room. 

All  rooms  are  easy  of  access  from  broad,  light  corridors,  leading  from  the  glass 
covered  court  in  the  center  of  the  building. 

The  central  court  illuminated  b}'  the  electric  light,  its  immense  glass  roof,  broad 
balconies  around  it  on  every  story,  its  carriage-way  and  its  tropical  plants,  is  an 
attractive  feature  ;  one  hitherto  unknown  in  American  Hotels. 

Guests  entertained  on  either  the  American  or  European  plan.  The  Restaurant  is 
an  adjunct  to  the  Hotel,  and 

IS  THE  FINEST  IN  THE  CITY. 

Eoom  with  Board,  -     Three  Dollars  per  Day, 

Koom  with  Board,         ...   Pour  Dollars  per  Day, 
Koom  without  Board,    -       -  One  Dollar  per  Day  and  Upwards, 

Lines  of  horse-cars  connecting  directly  with  all  principal  streets,  business  centers, 
leading  places  of  amusement  or  resort,  and  all  notable  localities,  constantly  traversing 
the  entire  city,  even  to  its  remotest  suburbs,  run  directly  by  or  within  a  minute's 
walk.  At  the  neighboring  foot  of  the  City's  Grand  Central' Avenue,  which  passes 
directly  under  its  northern  front,  are  the  stations  and  docks  of  the  Great  Overland 
Railway  Terminus,  with  the  piers  and  slips  of  the  principal  steam  ferries,  which  swiftly 
bridge  the  broad  Bay  in  every  habitable  or  pleasurable  direction.  A  few  blocks  south 
lie  the  immense  docks  and  basins  of  the  P.  M.  S.  S.  Co.,  with  their  grand  fleet  of 
Trans-Pacific  Mail  Steamships  for  the  Sandwich  Islands,  China,  Japan,  Australia,  India 
and  the  nations  of  the  Orient. 

Within  and  without,  in  all  approaches,  appointments  and  belongings,  the  kingly 
structure,  far  surpassing,  not  only  in  size  but  in  grandeur,  all  the  hotels  of  Europe  and 
Am  rica,  richly  justifies  the  propriety  of  its  happily  chosen  name — The  Palace  Hotel. 

The  salubrious  and  equable  character  of  the  climate,  (the  thermometer  at  San 
Francisco,  in  Summer,  ranging  from  60  to  70  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and  in  Winter  from 
50  to  60  degrees)  extends  such  an  inviting  welcome  to  travelers,  that  every  endeavor 
has  been  made  to  have  the  PALACE  fully  harmonize  with  it  in  its  attractive  features, 
by  combining  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  American  and  European  Hotels, 
with  the  greatly  prized  luxuries  of  Oriental  Life. 

A.  D.  SHARON,  Lessee. 


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SPECIAL  NOTICE  TO  MINING  AND  INSURANCE  COMPANIES, 
SURVEYORS  AND  ARCHITECTS. 

We  have  all  the  very  Latest  Improved  Instruments  from  Europe,  especially  adapted 
for  Photographing-  Maps,  Drawings  of  Machinery,  Shafts,  Buildings,  etc.,  which  we 
furnish  at  the  lowest  rates. 

I.   W.    TABER. 


"HOTEL  DEL  MONTE," 

MONTEREY,   CAL., 

THE  MOST  CHARMING 

SUMMER  AND  WINTER   RESORT 

ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST, 
IS   OPEN   ALL   THE   YEAR    ROUND 

For  the  reception  of  permanent  guests  and  transient  seekers  after  recreation  and  health. 

THE  MAGNIFICENT  "HOTEL  DEL  MONTE" 
Is  about  four  hours  by  rail  from  San  Francisco  and  is  reached  by  the 

SOUTHERN     PACIFIC    RAILROAD 

(NORTHERN  DIVISION) 
Via  SAN  FRANCISCO  AND  SAN  JOSE. 


The  "HOTEL  DEL  MONTE"  is  one  of  the  most  elegant  seaside  establishments  in  the 
world,  and  is  handsomely  furnished  throughout,  and  provided  with  all  modern  improve 
ments,  such  as  hot  and  cold  water,  gas,  etc  ,  etc.  It  is  picturesquely  situated  in  a 
grove  of  126  acres  of  oak,  pine,  spruce  and  cypress  trees,  and  is  within  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  of  the  beach,  which  is  unrivalled  for  bathing  purposes. 

There  are  many  beautiful  drives  to  places  of  great  interest,  such  as  Cypress  Point, 
Carmel  Mission,  Point  Lobos,  etc. 


THE  BATHING  ESTABLISHMENT  IS  UNSURPASSED. 


SPACIOUS  SWIMMING  TANK, 

(150x50  feet)  for  Warm  Salt  Water  Plunge  and  Swimming  Baths. 


ELEGANT  ROOMS   FOR  INDIVIDUAL   BATHS  WITH   DOUCHE  AND   SHOWER 
FACILITIES. 

MAGNIFICENT  BEACH 

OF  PURE  WHITE  SAND  FOR  SURF  BATHING,  ETC.,  ETC. 


GeO.    SchoneWClld)  Manager, 
Its'  SRR  OTHER  PAGE.]  MONTEREY,  CAL. 


THE 


CLIMATE    AND    HEALTHFULNESS 

OF 

MONTEREY 


THE 


MOST  DELIGHTFUL  SUMMER  PLEASURE  RESORT 

AND 

WINTER   SANITARIUM 

ON  THE    PACIFIC  COAST. 

The  weather  at  Monterey  is  not  so  warm  either  in  summer  or  winter  as  in  other 
parts  of  California  further  south,  but  there  is  an  even  temperature  that  can  be  found 
nowhere  else.  From  January  to  December,  year  in  and  year  out,  there  is  neither  summer 
nor  winter  weather.  Indeed,  the  weather  at  Monterey,  from  one  year's  end  to  another 
partakes  of  that  delightful  interlude  known  in  the  East  and  South  as  "Indian  Sum 
mer."  The  same  balmy  zephyrs  breathe  a  delicious  atmosphere  all  the  year  round 
and  summer  and  winter  so-called,  serenely  face  each  other  and  exchange  compliments 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  annexed  table  that  Monterey  has  only  one  rival  (Honolulu) 
in  equability  of  temperature.  It  must  be  understood,  however,  that  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  hot,  disagreeable  weather  on  the  islands,  and  a  multiplicity  of  drawbacks  which 
Monterey  does  not  possess.  There  are  seldom  any  high,  cold  winds  at  and  around 
Monterey,  and  never  any  hot  ones. 

The  following  carefully  prepared  table  presents  the 

Average  Temperature  of  Monterey 

AND 

MANY  OTHER  HEALTH   RESORTS   THROUGHOUT 
THE   WORLD. 


PLACE. 

JAN. 

JUL. 

DIFF. 

Latitude. 

PLACE. 

JAN. 

JUL. 

DIFF. 

Latitude. 

MONTEREY. 

San  Francisco. 
Los  Angeles  .  . 
Santa  Barbara 
San  Diego  .... 
Santa  Monica  . 
Sacramento.   . 
Stockton  .  .  . 
Vallejo  
Fort  Yuma  .    . 
Cincinnati..    . 

DBGS. 

52 
49 
55 
56 
57 
58 
45 
49 
48 
56 
30 

DEGS. 

58 
37 
67 
66 
65 
65 
73 
72 
67 
92 
74 

DEGS. 

8 
12 
10 
8 
7 
28 
23 
19 
36 
44 

DEG.MIN. 

36    36 
37    48 
34     04 
34     24 
S2     41 
34     00 
38    34 
37     56 
38    05 
32     43 
39     06 

New  York  .... 
New  Orleans.. 
Naples  
Honolulu.  .    .  . 
Funchal  
Mentone  
Genoa  
City  of  Mexico. 
Jacksonville  .  . 
St.  Augustine. 
Santa  Cruz  

DEGS. 

31 
55 
46 
71 
60 
40 
46 
52 
58 
59 
50 

DEGS. 

77 
82 
76 
77 
70 
73 
77 
63 
80 
77 
60 

DEGS. 

46 
27 
30 
6 
10 
33 
31 
11 
22 
18 
10 

DEG.MIN 

40    37 
29    57 
40    52 
21     16 
32    38 
43    71 
44    24 
19    26 
30    50 
30    05 
37    00 

THE  BALIBDIU TUBES  HOTEL, 

Oakland,  Cal,         If      East  Oakland,  Cal, 

The  above  Houses  have  just  been  thoroughly  refitted  and  refurnished, 
and  offer  extraordinary  inducements  to  parties  in  search  of  health  and 


comfort. 


THE     GALINDO 

Is  a  most  delightful  and  accessible  resort  for  business  men  or  others  who  wish  to 
take  their  families  away  from  the  summer  winds  and  dust  of  San  Francisco,  it  being 
a  charming  ride  of  40  minutes,  while  trains  leave  for  the  city  and  return  every  half 
hour  all  day  and  up  to  midnight. 

THE    TUBBS     HOTEL 

Is  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  beautiful  flower  garden,  surrounded  with  fruit  and 
ornamental  trees,  and  is  one  of  the  most  charming  and  healthful  family  homes  on  the 
coast^provided  with  all  the  modern  improvements — 25  suites  with  hot  and  cold  baths, 
closets,  etc. 


THE  COSMOPOLITAN  HOTEL, 

Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

The  Most  Thoroughly  First-Class  Hotel  in  Southern  California, 

AND  THE  BEST  HOUSE  IN  LOS  ANGELES,  AND  KEPT  OPEN  ALL 
THE  YEAR  ROUND. 


HAMMEL  &  DENKER,  Proprietors. 

THE]  COSMOPOLITAN  is  wanting  in  nothing  necessary  to  the  comforts  of 
transient  or  permanent  guests.  It-is  situated  in  the  center  of  the  city  of  Los  Angeles, 
contains  nearly  a  hundred  spacious  and  airy  rooms,  newly  furnished  in  the  most 
comfortable  style.  Rooms  in  suites  for  families  and  parties  on  every  floor,  with  hot 
and  cold  baths. 

THE  TABLE  is  always  furnished  with  the  best  supplies  that  can  be  pro 
cured  in  the  market. 

A  FREE  COACH  is  always  on  hand  to  convey  guests  to  the  house. 


No  pains  spared  to  make  guests  comfortable  in  every  way. 
A  LARGE  READING  T 


ROOM  open  night  and  day. 
IR-Z-    lEI-A- 

.  ID  IE  TNT  IK:  IE  IR_ 


W.  W.  WILLIAMS.  C.  E.  HARLOW.  C.  H.  LORD. 

LORD  &  WILLIAMS  GO. 

DEALERS  IN 

GENERAL  MERCHANDISE, 

KEEP    A    COMPLETE    LINE    OF 

Miners'    and     Mining     Stock. 


The  oldest  Mercantile  House  in  Tucson,  and  headquarters 
for  general  information  pertaining  to  everything  connected 
with  Arizona. 


W.  W.  WILLIAMS.  c.  H.  LORD. 

LORD  &  WILLIAMS, 

BANKERS  &  BROKERS, 

TUCSON,    ARIZONA. 


Buy    and    Sell    Exchange    on    all    parts 
of  the    World. 


THE     OLDEST    HOUSE    IN    THE    TERRITORY. 

Agents  for  the  SONORA  R.  R.,  Limited,  and  Correspondents 
of  all  the  leading  firms  in  Mexico. 


Silver  King  Mining  Company. 


LOCATION : 

PIONEER  DISTRICT,  FINAL  COUNTY, 
ARIZONA  TERRITORY. 


PRINCIPAL  OFFICE: 

SAFE  DEPOSIT  BUILDING,  328  MONTGOMERY  STREET, 
SAN  FRANCISCO,  CALIFORNIA. 


CAPITAL  STOCK,       -  $IO,OOO,OOO 

DIVIDED   INTO 

100,000  SHARES   OF  $100  EACH. 


Directors : 

JAMES  M.  BARNEY,  B.  A.  BARNEY, 

WILLIAM  H.  STANLEY,  GEO.  L.  WOODS, 

J.  L.  JONES. 

Officers  : 

GEO.  L.  WOODS President. 

B.  A.  BARNEY   Vice-President. 

JAMES  M.  BARNEY Treasurer. 

AARON   MASON Superintendent. 

JOSEPH   NASH Secretary. 

JAMES   M.  BARNEY General  Manager. 


AMERICAN   COLONY; 

Los  Angeles  County,  California, 
CALIFORNIA  IMMIGRANT  UNION, 

ROOM  3,  CHRONICLE  BUILDING, 
SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


The  demand  for  small  farms,  with  complete  irrigation  and  ready  market,  has  in 
duced  the  owners  of  the  "Los  Cerritos"  Rancho,  near  Wilmington  (21  miles  west  of 
the  city  of  Los  Angeles),  to  place  the  same  in  the  Land  Department  of  the  CALIFORNIA 
IMMIGRANT  UNION  for  subdivision  and  settlement. 

The  tract,  fronting  immediately  upon  the  Pacific  Ocean,  contains  10,000  acres,  and 
will  be  sold  in  farms  of  10,  20,  40  and  80  acres  each,  at  $12.50,  $15  and  $20  per  acre  ; 
one-third  cash,  one-third  in  two  years,  and  one-third  in  three  years. 

The  object  of  the  Union  is  to  dispose  of  these  lands  to  actual  settlers  at  low  prices 
and  upon  easy  terms;  promoting  their  interests  in  erery  way,  and  establishing  an 
enlightened  and  energetic  community  of  good  citizens,  who  will  do  honor  to  them 
selves,  as  well  as  to  lay  the  foundation  for  a  happy  home  and  a  moderate  fortune. 

Artesian  wells  can  be  had  upon  any  portion  of  the  land.  There  are  over  two  hun 
dred  artesian  wells  in  the  valley. 

Oranges,  Lemons,  Limes,  Figs,  Olives,  Almonds,  Walnuts,  and  all  semi-tropical 
fruits  grow  abundantly.  Arrangements  can  be  made  to  plant  any  number  of  acres  of 
Orange  trees,  three  to  four  years  old,  four  to  five  feet  high,  seventy  trees  to  the  acre, 
and  guarantee  them  for  $100  per  acre  ;  also  for  planting  other  fruit  or  shade  trees  at  a 
reasonable  cost. 

WOOD. 

Firewood  and  fencing  in  the  hills  at  a  very  moderate  co&t. 

EDUCATION. 

Great  attention  is  given  in  the  county  to  the  subject  of  education.      Some  of  the 
best  public  as  well  as  private  schools  are  located  here— accessible  at  all  seasons. 
MARKETS. 

The  markets  for  grain,  vegetables,  fruit,  poultry  and  dairy  products  can  be  found 
at  Wilmington  and  Los  Angeles. 

WATER. 

While  the  moisture  from  the  ocean  thoroughly  irrigates  this  tract  for  the  produc 
tions  of  cereals,  etc.,  ordinary  wells  20  to  30  feet  deep,  produce  all  water  necessary  for 
household  purposes,  and  that  necessary  for  irrigating  young  trees,  plants  and  vines. 
Artesian  water,  which  will  undoubtedly  be  used  by  over  one-half  of  the  settlers,  can  be 
obtained  at  from  100  to  200  feet. 

COMMUNICATION 

By  sea,  as  well  as  by  land,  renders  the  "American  Colony"  (Los  Cerritos  Rancho) 
more  desirable  than  any  other  tract  of  land  offered  in  Southern  California.  Steamers 
from  San  Francisco  arrive  at  Wilmington  every  4  or  5  days.  Sailing  vessels  ply  between 
the  two  ports,  and  the  railroad  to  Los  Angeles  and  San  Francisco,  as  well  as  the  rail 
road  to  Arizona,  passes  the  Colony  every  day.  The  completion  of  the  Atchison, 
Topeka  and  Santa  Fe,  and  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroads,  at  once  establish  direct 
communication  with  all  Eastern  and  Southern  cities.  Direct  travel  is  now  open  with 
Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  and  an  excursion  party  will  soon  be  arranged  to  visit  the 
Colony  tract. 

WM.  H.  MARTIN,  Gen.  Agent. 

ROOM  3,  CHRONICLE  BUILDING,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


Parmers'  and  Merchants'  Bank 

OF    LOS    ANGELES,    CAL. 

Capital, $200,000 

Reserve  Fund  and  Surplus,      25O,OCO 

ISAIAS  W.  HELLMAN,  L.  C.  GOODWIN,  JOHN  MILNER, 

President.  Vice- President.  Secretary. 

Board  of  Directors. 

ISAIAS  W.  HELLMAN,  JOHN  S.  GRIFFIN,  0.  W  CHILDS 

C.  E.  THOM,  L.  C.  GOODWIN,  A.  GLASSELL 

PHIL.  GARNIER,  DOM.  AMESTOY,  JOSE  MASCAREL. 

Exchange  for  sale  on  New  York,  London,  Dublin,  Frankfort,  Paris,  and  Berlin. 

Receive  Deposits  and  issue  their  Certificates. 

Buy  and  sell  Legal  Tenders,  Government,  State,  County  and  City  Bonds. 

A.  P.  K.  SAFFORD.  JAMBS  H.  TOOLS.  CHARLES  HUDSON. 

SAFFORD,  HUDSON  &  CO. 
BANKERS, 

TUCSON  AND  TOMBSTONE;  ARIZONA. 

CORRESPONDENTS: 


New  York J.  &  W.  SELIGMAN  &  Co. 

Boston.  .MASSACHUSETTS  NATIONAL  BANK. 

St.  Louis BANK  OF  COMMERCE. 

Santa  Fe FIRST  NATIONAL  BANK. 


Philadelphia.. CENTRAL  NATIONAL  BANK. 

Chicago MER.  SAV.,  LOAN  &  TRUST  Co. 

San  Francisco. .  ANGLO-CALIFORNIAN  B'K. 
Los  Angeles FIRST  NATIONAL  BANK. 


HELLMAN,  HAAS  &  GO. 

WHOLESALE    GROCERS, 

AND  DEALERS   IN 

LIQUORS,   CIGARS,  TOBACCO, 
HARDWARE,   ETC., 

Nos.  14-  &  16  Los  rtngeles  and  Commercial  Sis. 

[San  Francisco  Office,  T    (~\  C 

100  California  Street.]  l^vyo 


THE 


ARE   AMONG   THE   FINEST   IN   THE   STATE,    AND  ARE   SITUATED 

IN  LOS  ANGELES   COUNTY,  GAL., 

AND   ARE   SUITABLE   FOR   THE   CULTURE    OF 

ORANGES,    LEMONS,    LIMES,    FIGS;    ALMONDS, 

WALNUTS,    APPLES,    PEACHES,    PEARS, 

ALFALFA,   CORN,   RYE,   BARLEY, 

WHEAT  AND  OATS,  FLAX, 

RAMIE,  COTTON,  ETC. 

They  also  contain  many  thousand  acres  of  natural  evergreen  pasture,  suitable  for 
dairying.  Good  water  is  abundant  at  an  average  depth  of  six  feet  from  the  surface. 
On  almost  every  acre  of  this  land  flowing  artesian  wells  can  be  obtained,  and  many 
portions  can  be  irrigated.  Most  of  these  lands  are  naturally  moist,  requiring  only  good 
cultivation  to  produce  crops. 

S.  &   Q.   GRJM]?, 

Manufacturers  and  Importers  of 

foSi.  t     A          A.  t   rf 

irrors,  ffltndotu  floitmcw,  fflictuits  and   frames, 
JJ  7  T  "5 

MOULDINGS,  LOOKING-GLASS  PLATES,  ETC., 

581  &  583    MARKET   ST.,  Near  Second, 
SAN    FRANCISCO. 


PHINEAS  BANNING, 

Forwarding  and  Commission  Agent, 
WILMINGTON,  LOS  ANGELES  CO.,  CAL. 

Vessels  towed,  goods  lightered,  lumber  sold,  and  grain  stored,  with 
ACCUSTOMED    PROMPTNESS. 


T.  C.  JESSUP, .; 


CORNER  SUITER  AND  MONT- 
.GOMERY  STS.,  SAN  FRANCISCO. 
Sixteen  years  in  the  same  place.  All  work  guaranteed.  A  beautiful  Set 
of  Teeth  for  $15  ;  worth  $25.  Fillings  in  proportion.  CALL  AND  SEE. 

THE     EBBITT, 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

ARMY    AND    NAVY    HEADQUARTERS. 

FOUR  IRON  FIRE  ESCAPES,  AND  THE  FINEST  AND  MOST  COMMODIOUS  ELEVATOR  IN  THE  WORLD. 

Terms:    $4,  $3   and   $2. BO   per   Day. 

The  EBBITT  is  on  the  corner  of  14th  and  F  Streets,  on  both  Horse  Railroads,  and 
equi-distant  from  the  Capitol  and  White  House. 

C.  C.  WILLARD,  Proprietor. 

THE  STURTEVANT  HOUSE 

Broadway   and   29th   Streets, 
NEW  YORK. 

Headquarters  for  Army  and  Nauy  People  and  Calif orn fans. 

The  STURTEVANT  is  kept  on  both  the  American  and  European  plans,  and  has 
safety  elevators  and  fire  escapes. 

LEWIS  and  GEORGE  LELAND,  Proprietors. 

THE  CLIFTON  HOUSE 

NIAGARA   FALLS. 

(CANADIAN   SIDE.) 

The  CLIFTON  has  been  for  many  years  the  favorite  house  at  Niagara 
Falls.  Its  charges  are  fair  and  reasonable,  and  it  has  its  own  omnibuses 
and  carriages,  so  that  visitors  are  subjected  to  no  "old-fashioned  tariffs" 
for  riding  and  sight  seeing. 

,  Proprietor. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY, 
BERKELEY 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

Books  not  returned  on  time  are  subject  to  a  fine  of 
50c  per  volume  after  the  third  day  overdue,  increasing 
to  $1.00  per  volume  after  the  sixth  day.  Books  not  in 
demand  may  be  renewed  if  application  is  made  before 
expiration  of  loan  period. 


JUL-  271927 

.. 

oti0 


LIBRARY  USE  ONLY 

SEP    9 1985 


DJEPT 

*J  T  ~" 


SEP     y  1955 
CIRCULATION  DEPT. 


••••PHIPHiHI  •••• 


RECEIVED  BY 

APR     8 1987 

CIRCULATION  DEPT. 


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APR  0  4  2003 


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